Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj made their Test debuts on the recent tour to Australia.
The trio made their Test debuts on the recent tour to Australia and played a key role in India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph Down Under.
No wonder, Kohli feels the confidence shown by Sundar, Saini and Siraj at the highest level augurs well for RCB in IPL 2021.
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“(What) I did as a youngster was bring in that confidence of international level at the IPL. Watching Washy, (Navdeep) Saini and Siraj coming onto their own and Yuzi has been around for a while, show their personalities, it will help us pull stronger as a team, and move in right direction,” Kohli said during an interaction with RCB’s media team on the eve of his team’s IPL 2021 opener against Mumbai Indians.
“Our youngsters have become more confident with more experience. Now opposition knows that these guys can make impact in any situation as well which is obviously a great sign for us.”
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule for IPL 14 has been outlined in such a way that no team gets to play in its home ground and Kohli endorsed the move.
“There’s nothing quite like playing at the Chinnaswamy but good thing is we are back in India and one more positive like last year is that there is no home advantage,” he said.
“Every team is playing in neutral venues, and strength of the side comes to the fore and precisely why last IPL was so competitive. Because every team was in reckoning to qualify for play-offs, save last 3-4 games, which is great for the tournament as viewership last time went through the roof.
“Having done well last year in such competitive scenario, I am confident we will put up strong show this time around,” he added.
During the IPL 2021 auction, RCB had roped in New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson and Australia’s explosive batsman Glenn Maxwell for a whopping sum of Rs 15 crore and Rs 14.25 crore respectively. Other overseas buy made by the franchise was Australian pacer Daniel Christian, who cost them INR 4.8 crore.
“Very excited with the squad we have this year. We would like to go a couple of steps further. Great to have Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) in the set-up.
“Kane (Richardson) has been added to the team. Dan Cristian comes back, couple of Indian guys, who have been picked are exciting, Daniel Sams has been picked up,” Kohli said.
“Personally, I feel relaxed with the resources we have, and strength of our team Looking forward to being in the park and leading up to IPL is full of anticipation and nerves, looking forward to that first game on the ground as a team,” he concluded.
(With PTI inputs)