IPL has broken the barrier to a great extent - Virat Kohli

The stage is set for the biggest cricketing summer When two of the best limited over sides (India-England) will take on each other in 1st of three T20I on Tuesday, July 3 at Old Trafford, Manchester.

There will be a lot of chit-chat and tension around there. Both sides have players who are known for their aggressive approach. But Virat Kohli has taken the chatter down an unexpected road.



He was talking in the pre-match press conference that IPL has broken the barrier between the two sides. There will be a lot of friendship between the players as most of the players from both sides have become a good friend because of IPL.

It [IPL] is going to make relations between the two teams even better. I think because England hasn't played so much IPL cricket, there was never that familiarity or that sort of warmth between the two teams as much as we have with the other teams, purely because we didn't know the guys enough to be able to have conversations with them. I think this season has broken that barrier to a great extent," Kohli said.

"It is going to continue to happen in the future. I heard a lot of people are keen to go and play [IPL] and they should. Why not; it's a great league to play in. As Jos [Buttler] has been saying for months now, it has done great things to his mindset and he's taking that on in every format.



"So yeah I was really glad to see the rigid mindset was sort of kept on the side and people were allowed to come over. It did great things for them and it is going to do great things for global cricket as well," he added.

Virat Kohli didn't pick any side as a favourite to win. Both team players have played with and against each other in the IPL. So they must be aware of each other's strength and weakness.

"We believe in our abilities as a team, we have a lot of T20 experience, we have just come off the IPL and couple of games against Ireland as well where the team has looked great. Obviously, in T20 cricket the wickets are going to be something that provides entertainment to the crowd, so there's no one team that has an advantage in this format." - Virat Kohli said.



Looking at the weather of Manchester, India must be feeling right at home as the city experiencing some hottest days in recent times. He also spoke about his county stint for Surrey which was dismissed due to neck injury.

"It is as dry as I've seen it ever. Having spoken to the guys who've come here and played... they said it was a great experience for them learning a lot more things about their game. Especially I spoke to [Cheteshwar] Pujara, and Ishant [Sharma] as well, who've been here before. They said it is a great setup to be a part of. It is a great time to play cricket there. As a cricket,er you look for new challenges every now and then and that's something that I wanted to go and experience.

"Because we don't get to play so much cricket here before we come on tour. That was the main reason behind it... because all these guys come during the IPL and get a feel of how the wickets are and all those sorts of things. From that point of view, we thought why can't we do it...why can't we go over and play in those conditions and get to know how the pitches work and all that.

"But looking at the weather it is totally opposite to what it was when the season was going on. I don't think it is something... on hindsight when I look at it now I don't think it would've made too much of a difference to my preparation. The weather seems to be the same but there is a cool breeze. Wind is different. From a familiarity point of view it is a thing of comfort when you get weather conditions like this as soon as you arrive here," Kohli said.

The first T20I will be played at Manchester on June 3 and the rest two are scheduled to play on 6 and 8 July at Cardiff and Bristol respectively.

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