Virat Kohli will be leading the Men in Blue for the first time in a World Cup as he eyes his first world title as a captain. Kohli will be playing his third World Cup; he has already been a part of the showpiece event twice in 2011 and 2015.
He won his first World Cup in 2011 when MS Dhoni guided India to glory at home and brought an end to a 28-year-long wait for the second title. Indian team's official Instagram handle shared pictures of Indian stars before their departure to England.
The Indian cricket team left for England early morning on Wednesday to begin their preparations for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019, which gets underway on May 30th. The final 15 members of the squad along with the team staff boarded a flight for England at 4:30 sharp in the morning on Tuesday. India will be playing two warm-up games before opening their World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 5.
Kohli, when asked about the Round Robin format of the tournament, where each team will get to play against every side at least once, said that it makes the World Cup one of the most challenging ones. This is the first time since 1992 when the World Cup will be played in a round-robin format.
“Certainly most challenging World Cup considering the format of the tournament, also if you look at all the teams, they are really close. Even someone like Afghanistan has made so much progress in 2015. Every game will have to play best to our potential, it’s a different challenge which everyone will have to adapt to,” the Captain said.
India will open their World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 5 in Rose Bowl, Southampton.