Win or lose, tournament won’t end with Sunday’s game: Kohli on WC clash with Pakistan

Immune to frenzy around every India-Pakistan clash, Captain Virat Kohli says staying focussed on the bigger goal was important since the tournament would not end with World Cup’s most awaited match on Sunday. 

While he is aware of all the hoopla around the match, Kohliwon’t let one World Cup contest dictate his thought process.

   

The Indian captain was asked, six to seven times, the samequestion about the external pressure, hype and how tough this match could beand he very eloquently warded off all the queries, giving away very little.

“The game starts at a certain time and finishes at acertain time. So this is not going to last a lifetime, if you do well or evenif you don’t,” Kohli was at his pragmatic best during the pre-matchinteraction.

For the skipper, the bigger picture — winning the World Cup— is what matters the most.

“Whether we do well or not tomorrow, it’s not going tofinish. The tournament still has to go on and focus has to be on largerpicture. No one person takes more pressure than the others.

“Eleven guys share the responsibility. The weather isnot in anyone’s hands. We have to see whatever amount of game we get, we needto be mentally ready to do whatever we need to,” the skipper said.

Being in constant limelight has made him very conscious aboutthe electronic media looking for that ticker-grabber and the skipper wasn’t ina mood to relent.

When a journalist from the vernacular electronic media askedhim about the Virat vs Aamir battle, his response was sharp.

“I will not say anything for creating TRPs and neitherwould I say something that creates an exciting news point. Any bowler I face, Ionly see the red or white ball. Yes, I respect a bowler’s skill set. I had saidthe same about Kagiso Rabada,” Kohli said.

But he did make it clear that the good bowlers need to bestudied well.

“Whoever are impact bowlers in world cricket, youshould be wary about their strengths but at the same time you should have thatmuch self belief that you can score runs against any bowler. The result of thematch will not be decided on mine or his (Aamir’s) performance alone.”

And he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone.

“I don’t have to go out there and prove to the worldthat I have to win some kind of contest. I have never entertained these thingstill date and won’t do it near future. You can even get out to a part timer. Ikeep things that simple and basic.”

He has had some memorable performances against Pakistan buttalk about his 183 at Mirpur, he would be quick to point out otherscontribution.

“If you talk about Mirpur, even Rohit batted very welland we had a lengthy stand. MS (Dhoni) and (Suresh) Raina then finished thegame and at the start Sachin paaji (Tendulkar) played a great knock. It wasn’tas if I scored 330 out of 340 required. It’s good to create an external hooplabut we inside the change room know how to recognise each and everycontribution.”

He however accepted that it’s not fair to expect that fanswould be very logical in their thought process.

“I can’t tell fans to think in a particular manner. Wehave a professional approach to the game as we can’t get too emotional or overexcited. So, mindset of the players will be different from that of fans.”Our attention span has to be very preciseon field. We have that split second to make a decision but from a fans point ofview I would say that it’s not easy to think like a player.”

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