If it is one thing that India will be wary of in the Asia Cup 2016 opener against Bangladesh, it would have to be Mustafizur Rehman. The left-arm pacer was the cynosure of all attention after his stunning performances in his debut series against India last year. From being considered a flash on the pan to growing into a genuine threat, Mustafizur made everyone sit up and take notice of his cutters in that series. So when India were preparing to face him again in the Asia Cup opener, much of the questions in the pre-match presser to Kohli and Mortaza were surrounding the Mustafizur impact.
Says Mortaza, "He's outstanding. He's only 19 or 20. He's got some extraordinary variations which is very good in shorter formats. He's played only one Test against South Africa and even in that he was outstanding with his variations. I hope that he will do it again and again. He's a very important member of our team at the moment."
Many a player has suffered the second season blues but Mortaza is happy with whatever Mustafizur is doing to counter it. "It's normal that people will read and make his life difficult. It is all about homework and he's doing that really well. Hopefully he will cope with the pressure," says the skipper.
Kohli too was effusive in praise of the left-arm seamer. "It was exciting to see, a 19-year-old, bowling slower balls and touching 140 clicks, he came on board and did really well. It was different for us as well to experience. He was bowling slower balls and cutters with the new ball. He spiced the game up a bit more, which is always exciting."
Kohli then took it up a notch and proffered that young prospects such as him actually make the game better for even batsmen. "Look at Kagiso Rabada for South Africa, he is a very exciting bowler. So it is very good for the game when you have bowlers coming in and making life difficult for the batsmen. If you are playing in conditions like in Bangladesh and a guy can come in and take four-five wickets and trouble the batsmen all over, it makes the game more competitive. As a batsman also, you feel 'Okay, this guy has got a different set of skills, and you've got to prepare differently, tackle him differently.'"
Apart from the Mustafizur factor, both teams have a different set of goals going into the Asia Cup. For Bangladesh it is about being recognised as a force to reckon with in T20Is. "To be honest, T20s we have been struggling. It's a new tournament and we are well prepared. If you look at our rankings, it's not up to the mark and something has to be changed. We have to step up from here," says Mortaza.
For India, Kohli says the key factor will be to gather momentum ahead of the World T20. "We are not looking at any one team as serious threats. We will obviously take the challenge very seriously, be it any team around the world. That's the way we need to approach a tournament like the World Cup. Every game counts in this format and things can change very quickly. Momentum is a big factor in Twenty20 cricket."
India have played their last two series - against Australia and Sri Lanka - with largely the same T20I team and will continue to do so in the Asia Cup and World T20. So when MS Dhoni reckoned that the team could be depended upon to go on auto pilot mode, Kohli agreed with him and went on to explain more.
"MS was spot on (that the team can play on auto-pilot). It comes from the fact that we play a lot of T20 cricket. In the IPL, we all play a lot of games and express what we need to on the field and execute our skills. So you keep getting better every season. If you see this team and the number of IPL games played by every player, the number of games is very high. Everyone individually in their teams knows what needs to be done at what stage. So even MS, I think, doesn't need to put in so much thought into every ball, because the players know their roles and what needs to be done.
"So I think it takes a lot of load off him as well. Even on the field, people are changing positions themselves knowing what needs to be done. So it's a very good atmosphere in the team as far as this format is concerned. It's a great feeling when all 11 players know what to do," says Kohli.
One significant addition to enable this auto-pilot mode has been the emergence of Jasprit Bumrah as a bowler who can be depended upon to deliver with both the old and the new ball. "Jasprit, as MS said, was the biggest find in the Australian series. He has come on board and bowled with a lot of heart and a lot of confidence. When he runs in to bowl, you can sense where he wants to get the batsman out. Not just get him out, he know exactly where he wants to get the batsman out. He has a proper plan when he bowls. That's very heartening to see - a bowler who can rush the batsman also, who can bowl yorkers at will, he's got a good slower one also, he has a different action too, which people are finding hard to pick at this stage," says Kohli on what makes Bumrah a key addition.
An analytical Kohli also went on to take apart his batting style in T20s and compared it to how he had changed his mindset in the process. He, along with Dhawan and Rohit at the top, has been the bedrock of the Indian batting and his exploits in the shortest format in particular has raised his overall stature as a batsman.
"I used to think that maybe I don't hit as many big shots as some of the other players, or that I don't hit too many sixes. So I used to try to do a lot more, plan too much. Now I play on instinct. I have come to terms with the fact that I can't hit too many sixes, so I concentrate on hitting boundaries. I have tried to mould my game to that, try to hit the ball in the gaps and get fours, rather than sixes, which is a higher risk shot. I might hit more boundaries than sixes and still get the result. I am scoring at 160 still, so it doesn't matter if I am hitting sixes or fours or doing it in singles and doubles," he says.
The eventual results are all the sum of the smaller parts. Both teams have these targets set and have explained clearly what they want out of the tournament. It now boils down to executing them right. Some will succeed, some will falter but the homework has been done.
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