Virat Kohli fires warning for his teammates about 'bad habits' during IPL

While the Indian cricketing fraternity is gearing up for the much-awaited twelfth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Virat Kohli is definitely not one of them. With the 2019 World Cup looming, the India skipper hinted that he is worried the players might drift apart from ‘one-day mould of things’. The preparation for the tournament is truly underway now. India are hosting Australia for two T20Is and five ODIs which will be their last assignment before the World Cup.

Indian players will be playing T20s extensively in the IPL before heading to England for the all-important showpiece event. The tournament will begin ten days after the conclusion of the ODI series against Australia and will end hardly a couple of weeks before the World Cup starts on May 30. And with so much at stake in the mega event, Kohli has cautioned the World Cup-bound players to take care to stay ready for one-day cricket.

India will hardly have any time to adjust to 50-over format before the World Cup. They will open their campaign against South Africa on June 5 and would have to rely on net sessions and a couple of warm-up games to remain in groove. Unsurprisingly, Kohli spoke on the importance of remaining aware of the impending World Cup as expressed his concerns over ‘bad habits that might creep in during the IPL’.

“All the people who are going to be part of the World Cup squad, they have to make sure that their games don’t go too much away from the one-day mould of things,” Kohli said ahead of the first T20I.

“That means we will have to be very wary of the bad habits that might creep in during the IPL. From a personal point of view, I would look to continue in the same way that I have in all formats over the years and not do anything fancy because the frame of mind is the most important thing getting into the World Cup.

“We need 15 people who are confident and mentally happy about where their game is at that particular moment. It will take a consistent effort from all the players during the IPL to keep a check on that,” he added.

More ODIs would have been better

Virat Kohli went as far as saying that the team would have been better served had the two T20Is were instead organised as ODIs. “Well, yes that would have been ideal… more, I would say, logical, but that’s the way series are compiled nowadays,” he said.

“Also, because we are playing so much T20 cricket in the IPL, probably a couple more ODIs would have been more beneficial for both the teams and not just us. But we have to utilise what’s in front of us as best as possible,” the skipper signed off.

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