India captain Virat Kohli says England’s World Cup struggles have taken him by surprise, ahead of his side’s meeting with the tournament hosts at Edgbaston on Sunday.

England went into the World Cup as the No 1 ranked team in the world, but have under-performed, losing three of their seven games – to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia – to leave their semi-final hopes hanging in the balance.

India, by way of contrast, are unbeaten and have replaced England at the top of the world rankings ahead of Sunday’s matchup, live on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup from 9.30am.

“Everyone is a bit surprised. We thought England is probably going to dominate in their own conditions,” Kohli said at the pre-match press conference.

“The other teams have outplayed England on occasions, and that can happen to any side. It is a bit surprising, but I expected something like that in the World Cup, where teams are going to be put under pressure.

“Pressure is going to be a massive factor to handle. I have played two World Cups and that usually happens in such a big tournament where all teams are very strong.

“Although we haven’t lost a game until now, we still can’t be complacent as a side. The reason why we won all the games that we’ve played is because we’ve been very professional and precise in pressure moments.

Kohli didn’t want to be drawn into commenting on the war of words between England opener Jonny Bairstow and former captain Michael Vaughan that has developed ahead of Sunday’s game.

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June 30, 2019, 9:30am

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Bairstow hit the headlines after a media appearance in which he claimed some pundits were “willing the team to fail”. Vaughan responded by criticising the opener’s “negative, pathetic mindset”.

“What’s happening with another team or outside of our change room is of no concern or no importance to us, to be honest,” Kohli added. “They have to sort out their own issues themselves, I guess.

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