No easy game in World Cup: Kohli

London: Pakistani pace-bowling legend and former captain Wasim Akram, in England as part of the commentary panel for the World Cup, interviewed Virat Kohli following the Indian team's victory over arch-rivals Pakistan. Here is an extract from the interview:

When asked by Akram if he was happy with the momentum India had garnered, Kohli replied: "The start has been very good for us, with one washout, but the other three games — the first one was very challenging, but the other two wins have been very convincing and very professional victories against two of the biggest sides in world cricket."

"We're very happy with where we stand as a team, we're playing really well together, and it's been a team effort. Even in the changing room, we can feel that the players are playing their roles perfectly," continued the Indian skipper.

The former Pakistani paceman stated that from the outside, the Indian dressing room seemed happy and seemed to be enjoying their cricket. To this Kohli said, with a smile, "100 percent, that was our first decision when we came here we just wanted to have a lot of fun. It's a long tournament and it's important to enjoy every day. Even finding moments of fun for five-ten minutes makes a world of difference."

"Off the field, in practice sessions, we find time to have fun and crack a few jokes, and that's the most important thing in a long tournament."

When asked by Akram about Bhuveneshwar Kumar's injury, which forced him to walk off the field in the middle of his over, Kohli responded: "He was very professional in his approach. He said he could have bowled one more ball, but he stopped so the injury didn't get aggravated at that point."

Akram stated that as a captain, Kohli hadn't missed a trick yet in team selections.

When asked about the decision to play just the two wrist spinners on a spin-assisting wicket, Kohli said: "Wrist spinners are always going to be a threat, as long as you can give them that confidence. So keeping an attacking field, keeping a slip in place — and once the ball started turning because of the moisture, they became different bowlers."

Asked about the next game and Afghanistan, and if the team were going in with the same mentality against the minnows as against arch-rivals Pakistan, Kohli said: "For sure, it's very difficult to gain momentum in a tournament like the World Cup, and we want to win every game that we play. The fact that we have many days between each game is going to help a lot. We can recover, recoup, and the motivation is back again. No game is easy in the World Cup, all teams are good, and we're playing everyone once, so we have to be very professional on the day and execute all our plans."