he Indian men’s cricket team has departed for a full fledged month-long tour of the United States and the Caribbean on Monday. Virat Kohli and Co. will play 3 T20Is vs West Indies from August 3, followed by an equal number of ODIs, with the 2 Test series starting from August 22.
Having been ousted by New Zealand in the semi-final of the World Cup 2019, the 6 white-ball matches will serve India well in dealing with some long standing issues with their batting order. Later on the tour, the 2 Tests will be part of the inaugural World Test Championship and will have 120 WTC points on offer for both the teams.
But even with so much at stake, the pre-series talk has mostly been dominated by issues which actually have nothing to do with the game itself.
Reports of differences between the leading stars in Indian cricket were doing the rounds and stories of rift between Virat Kohli and vice-captain got the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) concerned.
Addressing the media on Monday, Virat Kohli said: “In my opinion it’s baffling to be honest. It’s absolutely ridiculous to read such stuff that comes out. I have been to a few public events and the sentiment is “aap log kya khele (you guys played so well).
“We are feeding off lies. We are overlooking facts. We are turning a blind eye to all the good things that has happened. We are creating fantasies and scenarios in our head and want to accept that this is the truth.”
