18,775 runs, 705 sixes, 708 wickets, 3 hattricks, 1 Super Over and 1 last-ball finish!

 

In a nutshell, that was VIVO IPL 2017! A tournament where new heroes emerged and big names showcased their class and skills.

 

Your favourite Knights continued their consistent show in this tournament, with a fifth playoff appearance in the last seven years. While we just missed out on the dream of a record-breaking third IPL title, Gautam Gambhir and Co. gave the Knight Riders enough reasons to rejoice throughout the season.

 

The fun and games is not over though as the likes of Umesh Yadav, Chris Lynn, Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Trent Boult and Shakib Al Hasan will now don the national team jersey in the upcoming ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2017 (June 1 to 18).

 

Although a different format, the experience gained from this IPL season will be an advantage in England and Wales during ICC CT 2017, feels the Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli.

 

"It helps in getting game time as it helps a lot of players to stay in the match zone. IPL being a competitive tournament, it helps you play against world-class players from all the teams & this could help you for handling the situations in Champions Trophy," Kohli said on Tuesday (24 May, 2017) in Mumbai ahead of the team’s departure for the British Isles.

 

The eight top ranked ODI teams will take part in this 18-day long tournament. Group A comprises of hosts England, New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh. Group B has a distinct sub-continental flavor with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka representing the Asian bloc. South Africa are the fourth team in this group.

 

The Indian team will begin their campaign on June 4 against Pakistan at Edgbaston, followed by Sri Lanka (June 8) and South Africa (June 11) at The Oval in London.

 

Having won the seventh edition tournament in 2013, Virat Kohli’s men will be eager to do well this time around as well.

 

However the Indian captain mentioned that the team is not under any additional pressure due to their status as defending champions.

 

"The first challenge is not to think that we are defending the championship, when we went there the last time we enjoyed ourselves as a young unit & ended up winning the tournament and created a team which did so well so far. From that team as well, there are few changes being made, our mind set is very similar & enjoy our cricket which we have done. In test cricket, we have reached the top spot with that mind-set & having that hunger to win, we want to take it across all the formats & ruthlessness is something that we want to show," he said.

 

The majority of attention is on the Indian team’s first game against Pakistan on June 4. With a 12-2 (6 in ICC CWC, 5 in ICC WT20, 3 in ICC CT) record in their favour at global ICC events, the Men-in-Blue are favourites going into this big game.

 

But Kohli believes the team will treat this just like any other game.

 

"It is not like we are playing for the first time, so there is nothing special planned and there are no different strategies and there is no added motivation. Because if you’re playing for India, I don’t think there is any need of getting motivated against any specific opposition. You’ve to have passion but you can’t be too emotional against one side. So I think, you have to play with the same kind of passion, regardless of whom you’re playing against," signed off Kohli.