IND vs WI | T20 rankings cannot be considered when World Cup is the bigger picture, reckons Virat Kohli
Indian skipper Virat Kohli asserted that it is very important to not focus on the T20 rankings and the team's focus is on playing the strongest eleven keeping in mind next year's T20 World Cup Down Under. India will be playing a three-match T20I series against West Indies starting from December 6.
The T20 format has generally not been India's strong point as they haven't done well in ICC T20 tournaments since their triumph in the 2007 edition and thus they lie fifth in the ICC T20 rankings. But skipper Virat Kohli believes that India lies so low in the rankings because they were never able to play their strongest eleven and currently the main focus of the team going forward to next year's T20 World Cup in Australia.
The Indian team is giving opportunities to different youngsters in order to help them express themselves and give them a chance to cement their place in India's T20 squad for the World Cup.
"You want to give chances to the youngsters in the shortest format, we have not played the strongest eleven together in T20Is so rankings cannot be considered," Kohli told in a press conference ahead of the first T20I against West Indies.
"We need to focus on batting first and defending low totals as well. Those are two things that we need to really focus on. T20 is a format where you can experiment a lot more than ODIs and Tests," he further asserted.
Kohli was rested for the Bangladesh series in which there were glimpses of a poor middle-order performance from the Indian side. But Kohli believes that with him coming back into the side, that will no longer be an issue.
"I have come back into the side so it is my responsibility to take control of the middle-order. One individual needs to bat long and others need to play with a good strike-rate. Batting positions don't matter in the shortest format, it is just about getting the job done," Kohli said.
"Having two wrist spinners is a big advantage when you are playing in Australia as they have big fields. You need to have six bowling options in T20 cricket, I think that is the balance we need to create, there can be an opportunity to play two wrist spinners, but we need to find a way to work around that," he concluded.
