India start campaign today

Chandigarh

Virat Kohli begins a very difficult journey in his third World Cup, this time as captain, when India take on South Africa in Southampton on Wednesday.

India is the only team that hasn’t played a game in the 12th World Cup so far, as if the organisers were whetting the appetite of the tens of millions of Indian fans. And the first game is a biggie — against South Africa, ranked No. 3 in the world, just behind No. 2 India. In fact, the format of this World Cup is such that practically every game is a biggie — each team plays all others once. There are no minnows to pummel.

However, South Africa have lost their first two matches, their great fast bowler Dale Steyn has been ruled out due to injury, and young paceman Lungi Ngidi is out with a hamstring strain. They’d be low on confidence — but the flipside is that they would be desperate to avoid a third consecutive defeat. The Steyn blow is big, but they do have another top-class paceman in Kagiso Rabada, and fine batsmen such as Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, who scored three 100s in his first three ODIs against India.

On match-eve, Kohli spoke in confident but measured tones. “You are playing every side once and you have to think on your feet and adapt very quickly.”

At 30, Kohli is already a confirmed batting great; as captain, he’s won a Test series in Australia, the

first Indian to do so. He’ll join the pantheon of cricket gods if he leads India to a World Cup win in England. The journey begins in Southampton on Wednesday.

Men in blue to bleed orange

As marketing men say, Indian fans would be bleeding blue of the course of the tournament — and occasionally, orange. Indian teams have sported blue for long, but they’d likely be playing in orange kits in a few matches, including against hosts England in Birmingham on June 30. ICC has taken the concept of multi-coloured kits from football, in which a team has to play in a different kit if the original kit colour clashes with that of the home team.

‘Very challenging’

You’ve to be precise, you have to think on your feet. So from that point of view, yes, it will be a very, very challenging tournament. Virat Kohli, India captain