Virat Kohli urges team-mates not to pick up ‘bad habits’ during IPL

The India captain hopes stars playing the T20 league don’t allow their games to drift away from the “one-day mould of things,” keeping the World Cup in mind.

Virat Kohli addresses the media on Saturday, ahead of the first T20 between India and Australia.

India’s World Cup-bound cricketers will have to take care to stay ready for one-day cricket during the Indian Premier League (IPL), captain Virat Kohli has cautioned.

The IPL will begin soon after the end of India’s limited-overs series against Australia, and is scheduled to be the last competitive tournament Kohli’s men play ahead of the summer’s event in the U. K.

“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 T20 here.

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“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 frame of mind is the most important thing getting into the World Cup, and 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. The moment you enter the nets and create bad habits, and you lose momentum, you lose batting form, it is very difficult to get it back in a tournament like the World Cup. Everyone will have to protect that mindset and be aligned towards what the team requires of them.”