Indian cricket icon Virat Kohli is all set to participate in his fourth ODI World Cup after making his first appearance in the 2011 edition which he won under the leadership of MS Dhoni. As Kohli gets the 2023 World Cup campaign underway, he could be on the verge of overtaking Anil Kumble in the elite list of World Cup players. Currently, Kohli and Kumble jointly hold the record for the most number of catches in the history of the ODI World Cup for India.
Both Kohli and Kumble have taken 14 catches each for India in World Cups. While Kumble needed 18 matches to achieve the target, Kohli needed 26.
Back in the grind after a few days’ leave, Virat Kohli’s extended net session was the centerpiece of Team India’s first training session in the city ahead of the World Cup opener against Australia on Sunday.
Closed door sessions are common among football teams, with managers not wanting anyone to get a whiff of a team’s tactical preparedness.
But it is not so common in cricket teams, where tactical matters are much more fixed, but on Wednesday the Indian team decided to ban the media from watching the session.
The biggest talking point will be the bowling composition and whether India will field an extra seamer in the form of Mohammed Shami or field local hero Ravichandran Ashwin, depending on the surface used for the game.
With Hardik Pandya bowling 6-7 overs per match and sometimes even the full quota, the temptation will be to bring in Ashwin, who can play with Australian minds.
Kohli faced the usual throw-ins for a significant period before facing some local net bowlers.
Although the training was supposed to be a two-hour practice, Kohli has put in an extra 45 minutes as the team has already missed two warm-up matches, which helps with the simulation.
India missing out on the CWC warm-up is not entirely a loss as they had already played a three-match ODI series against Australia a few weeks ago.
Although Kohli did not play the first two matches of the series, he did manage to play a composite knock of a 61-ball 56 in the final ODI in Rajkot.
With PTI inputs
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