Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday said the team will need to strengthen the lower middle order so as to ease the pressure on Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the Champions Trophy.
Speaking to the media, Kohli said he expects a lot from seniors like Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni. "We needed to strengthen our lower middle order contribution. Too much burden was on MS. He was not able to express himself,” Kohli said
"But now we are balanced, we have good fast bowlers, depth in batting and the series against England (in January) sealed it for us. We are in a good head-space going into this tournament," Kohli went on to add in an ICC statement.
Kohli also has a lot of hopes from the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin among others. "I am very excited to be playing as captain in my first major ICC competition," he said.
"As far as the team goes, we won last time because our fast bowlers did very well, our spinners were strong and our opening batsman did well."
"They were the main three factors. This year the team is a lot fitter, the cricketers are a lot more mature because that was a very young group four years ago. It has gained a lot of experience in the last three or four years. I love the tournament because it represents a challenge from the go," he added.
--By A Cricket Correspondent
