Confident after winning the first World Cup encounter against South Africa, captain Virat Kohli on Friday said he was hopeful that India will achieve its objective of winning the trophy, even though the campaign will be ‘tough’.

Speaking at a reception for the team at the residence of Indian high commissioner Ruchi Ghanshyam in Kensington Palace Gardens, Kohli said winning the World Cup was uppermost on everyone’s mind, as well as that of the team. ((ICC World Cup 2019: Full Coverage))

The reception was attended by past cricketers such as Farokh Engineer, Dilip Doshi and Ravi Shastri, as well as Foreign Office ministers Mark Field and Tariq Ahmad, members of the House of Lords Swraj Paul and Jitesh Gadhia, among others.

Kohli said: “Whenever we are in London we are here to meet all of you. The tournament we are here for…that is something on everyone’s mind and on the team’s mind as well all the time. We have had a really good start”.

“We really look forward to all the support that we can get throughout the campaign. It’s going to be tough but together special things can happen. Hopefully we will achieve what are going to achieve,” he added.

Ghanshyam, who spoke for many about India going on to win the World Cup, apologised to the British individuals in the gathering. She recalled the history of India’s cricket encounters and said it was against England that the first encounters were held.

“In 1983 we won the first world cup. I am sure I speak for almost everyone in this room – I do apologise to my friends from the UK – but we are all hoping that history is going to be repeated. We have a number of important games coming up”, Ghanshyam said.

Member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s team during the April 2018 Commonwealth summit in London, Ghanshyam recalled that he had announced a scheme to train 30 girls and 30 boys from Commonwealth countries in cricket.

“This shows the importance of cricket not just to India but to all the countries in the Commonwealth. I thank the Board of Control for Cricket in India, because it is they who would be conducting the training”, she added.

First Published: Jun 08, 2019 19:36 IST