It is the most challenging World Cup of my career: Virat Kohli

Indian skipper Virat Kohli, along with Coach Ravi Shastri, addressed a press conference before boarding their flight to England to take part in the much-awaited World Cup. Kohli, who will be playing his first World Cup as India's captain, spoke on the team's challenges and prospects in the tournament.

The 30-year-old opined that going to a place early, especially for a tournament like the World Cup, would help in getting rid of any nerves in the side.

Speaking on the World Cup, Kohli said, "It is probably the most challenging World Cup of all the three that I have been a part of, because of the format and the strengths of all the sides. If you look at Afghanistan from 2015 to now, they are a completely different side and any team can upset anyone on their day. If we live up to our skill set and the standards that we have set for ourselves, we will be on the right side of the result more often."

The Indian skipper also responded to a question posed on the lean form of Kuldeep Yadav and Kedar Jadhav in the recently concluded IPL. Both the Indian players weren't anywhere near their best for their respective franchises and ended up drawing heavy criticism for their lacklustre performances.

Kohli though saw the positive side of things in this case. Addressing a media person, he said, "In the hindsight, for someone like Kuldeep, who has so much success, it is important to see a period where things don't do your way also. We are glad that it happened during the IPL rather than happening during the World Cup. He had time to reflect, time to correct things and come into the World Cup even stronger. We know the kind of skill set he possesses. Yadav and Chahal are two pillars of our bowling lineup."

Sharing his views on Kedar Jadhav's form, Kohli added, "We understand the kind of pitches they (Chennai Super Kings) got playing at home. So we were not too worried about Kedar. He was looking in good space. Yes, he couldn't get runs; T20 is such a format where if you don't get runs, you can go on a lean patch for a few games. We are not worried about anyone's headspace."

Virat Kolhi, who is expected to play a key role in India's fortunes at the showpiece event, opined that playing white ball cricket is not as tough as playing Test cricket in England. Stating that it's important to stay focussed throughout the tournament, the champion batsman laid emphasis on the ability to handle pressure to come out trumps in World Cup.

India kick off their World Cup campaign when they take on South Africa at Southampton on 3 June.