Vikramjit Singh (Photo: Subhayan Chakraborty)
As the round-robin phase of the men’s ODI World Cup reaches its concluding stages, India are getting ready to take on the Netherlands at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. While the Men in Blue look to conclude the league stage with nine straight wins, the Dutch team would hope to put up a show of courage.
Ahead of the match, the Netherlands opener Vikramjit Singh spoke to RevSportz in an exclusive interview on the experience of playing the World Cup in his country of origin, Virat Kohli and other subjects.
Excerpts:
Subhayan: How has been the experience of playing the World Cup in India?
Vikramjit: It has been amazing. You don’t get to play a World Cup in India every day. The atmosphere has been amazing, the crowd has been amazing. It’s all new for us as we are not used to huge crowds, but we have really enjoyed our time here. You get so many eyeballs, so much of exposure playing in India. For us, it has been a great learning and we have been able to show what we are capable of, like we did against South Africa and Bangladesh. That was huge for us.
Subhayan: You often come to India to practise during the off-season. Did that experience help?
Vikramjit: It’s not a new environment for me, for some of the guys it is. It has definitely helped me. Some of the guys were sick after coming to India for the first time. In that regard, it has been like a everyday routine for me.
Subhayan: As you are an opener, what are your thoughts on this Indian pace attack?
Vikramjit: They are bowling amazingly. They are one of the better attacks in the world. For us, it is definitely going to be a challenge. We are looking forward to the challenge. We must be positive and focus on the kind of cricket we have been playing for the last year and a half, and we should do be successful.
Subhayan: Is this Indian pace attack the best in the world?
Vikramjit: On paper, yes. But other teams have also got great pace attacks. For example, South Africa and New Zealand have got amazing pace attacks. But in this World Cup, India have done extremely well with their pace attack.
Subhayan: What have you learned from observing the Indian batters in this World Cup and over the years?
Vikramjit: Everybody has got a different style of playing their cricket. They have got their own style. I have got my own style in what I try to do out there. Obviously, we don’t have a Rohit Sharma, who can smack sixes whenever he wants to. So we don’t want to look too much into how the Indian batters play and rather focus on our game and how we want to play.
Subhayan: Have you been inspired by watching Virat Kohli bat in this World Cup?
Vikramjit: Everyone wants to bat like Kohli and score 50 centuries. But as I said, he has found his own way of scoring big runs, play his cricket and everyone has to find a method to be successful. I can’t be a right-hander and bat like Kohli (laughs). Everybody has to find a way to play their cricket.
Subhayan: How will your performances help cricket grow back in home? Do you think it will inspire kids?
Vikramjit: It is huge for us. Cricket is quite small in the Netherlands and to do well against some of the best countries, it’s unbelievable. For the first time, it has reached the news in the Netherlands and that was very big for us. Hopefully, it will inspire kids to pick up the bat and ball and start playing cricket.
Subhayan: Now that you are going to complete nine World Cup matches in India, how do you think the Netherlands can be consistent going forward?
Vikramjit: That’s a great point. Consistency is the key. We have got a lot of work to do. Consistency is something which separates good teams from bad teams. That’s what we talk about as well within the team. How do you build consistency? That’s the hard part. I think, if we can build consistency from here, then we are going to go all the way from here to the top.
Subhayan: The burning question now…who do you think will lift the glittering trophy?
Vikramjit: Can’t look past India, eh? They are looking very good, almost like no one can beat them. So yeah, I am going for India because of the home support as well.
Subhayan: Do you guys think about playing in the IPL?
Vikramjit: It would be a dream to play in the IPL but if you ask most of the guys, they are focusing on building cricket in the Netherlands and reach the top, play good cricket, and do the best for Netherlands cricket but playing in the IPL would be cool.
Subhayan: Final one, your favourite IPL team?
Vikramjit: Mumbai Indians.
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As the round-robin phase of the men’s ODI World Cup reaches its concluding stages, India are getting ready to take on the Netherlands at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.…
The post Vikramjit backs India to lift the World Cup appeared first on RevSportz | Latest Sports News.
