After a gruelling season for the Indian cricket team, the focus will now shift to the various franchises taking on each other in the Indian Premier League. The IPL twitter handle posted a video in which Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli and Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni are seen having a conversation ahead of the first clash between the two teams on March 23.

India captain Virat Kohli had a clear message for all his World Cup bound teammates – don’t pick up bad (technical) habits during IPL and manage workload carefully, taking games off whenever necessary during the cash-rich league.

Kohli, who has developed a tunnel vision as far as the World Cup is concerned, doesn’t want the India stars plying their trade for various franchises, to drift too much from their ODI game plan during the seven-week league that ends on May 12. India play their opening World Cup game against South Africa on June 5 in Southampton, exactly 23 days after IPL ends. “They have to make sure that their games don’t go (drift) too much away from the one-day mould of things. That means we will have to be very wary of the bad habits that might creep in during the IPL,” Kohli said.

The national team’s interest has always been paramount for Kohli and accordingly, he also wants his teammates to make that effort during IPL. “That (not picking up bad habit) will take a consistent effort from all the players during the IPL to keep a check on that. The moment you enter the nets and create bad habits, you lose the momentum and you lose batting form. It is very difficult to get it back in a tournament like the World Cup,” Kohli warned his teammates about the innovative shots that are in vogue during the league.