ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Virat Kohli desperate to bounce back from poor 2014 England series

PTI

New Delhi: With Virat Kohli and his Men in Blue landing in England to defend the ICC Champions Trophy, a rush of old memories must have haunted the skipper's mind. Memories of the dismal 2014 season, where Virat failed to shine with the bat. But the 28-year-old came forth to admit that he desperately wants to prove his brilliance on English pitches after he let his fans down three years ago.

An aggressive top-order batsman, Virat Kohli has already notched up 7755 runs in 179 ODIs, with a staggering average of 53.11. In 2016, where the skipper lived a spectacular home season, Virat amassed 739 runs in 10 matches with a clinical average of 92.37.

Regardless of a successful career till now, the Delhi-based cricketer has failed to emulate the same in England. Back in 2014, during the Investec Test series, Virat averaged merely 20 in the five-match series. The series concluded 3-1 in favour of England.

India however bounced back from the Test defeat to win the ODI series 3-1, but Virat showed no improvement. It was only in the one-off T20I game that the right-hander played a patient innings of 66 off 54 deliveries, which went in vain as the hosts emerged victorious.

"If you talk about the longer format of the game then I did not do well here three years ago," Kohli said on Thursday. "I was not able to contribute to the team and I want to succeed, although not to prove a point. It motivates me further to come back and do better. For me it is a game of cricket. From then to now, I have shown I am strong mentally."

"England brings a lot for challenges for a batsmen and I want to overcome them personally for my satisfaction at the end of my career. From that point of view, it is exciting for me."

India emerged as winners of the Champions Trophy back in 2013 against the host nation England, in the rain-curtailed final. Reduced to a 20-over match, Kohli played a crucial role knocking 43 runs to push India's total up to 129. As poor as it sounds, Indian bowlers played spectacularly to defend their paltry total and the men in blue won by just 5 runs.

This summer, the tournament kicks-off from June 1, with India taking on their arch-rivals Pakistan on the fourth day of the tournament. Next on the fixtures are Sri Lanka, on June 8 and South Africa, on June 11.

"I am very excited to be playing as captain in my first major ICC competition," smiled Kohli. "As far as the team goes, we won last time because our fast bowlers did very well, our spinners were strong and our opening batsman did well. They were the main three factors. This year the team is a lot fitter, the cricketers are a lot more mature because that was a very young group four years ago."