India will play 3 ODIs against New Zealand but they are not looking towards the series as a preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Team India just completed a 5-0 whitewash against the Kiwis on Sunday (February 2) and has a lot of T20 cricket scheduled before the T20 World Cup in Australia. Therefore, they do not have to look at the ODIs as a trial for the tournament.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli said, “We have had five T20s already, it's not that we don't have a lot of T20 cricket. We have IPL as well which is going to be a month and a half of T20 cricket. So we will probably utilize that, I think because last year (for ODI World Cup) you did not have much opportunity to prepare yourselves apart from the games that were in front of you.”
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“But T20s is very different, as I said. IPL is probably the most competitive tournament you can ask for as a collective and guys will look to get into that frame of mind in that tournament and not this early in a 50-over format because you don't want to play in a different manner,” he added.
It will not only not be easy but also not be logical to play ODI cricket thinking of it as a preparatory game for T20. Kohli believes that the players should respect each and every format and must play it according to the length of the game.
The 31-year-old said, “You have to respect the format, you have to play according to the pace of the 50-over game and as I spoke of the combination as well. It's about guys getting settled in their roles and repeating that game after game so that they know I played this in this format, I have to play this in T20s or similarly in Test cricket.”
“These things are all about creating good habits for different formats and then being able to switch between them. So no, we are not looking at this series as preparation for T20 World Cup. IPL is going to be the right platform for that,” he added.
The first ODI between India and New Zealand will be played on Wednesday (February 5).
(Inputs from PTI)
