England are going to be a challenge for every team: Virat Kohli

NEW DELHI: India might be the defending champions at the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and one of the favourites to lift the trophy for a second successive time but their captain Virat Kohli feels that England are the team to beat this tournament and it's one side which will be a challenge to deal with.
India defeated England in the last iteration of the tournament in 2013 in a truncated final that allowed the then captain MS Dhoni to become the only skipper in cricket history to have won all the major ICC trophies.
Kohli feels that England is brimming with quality allrounders which makes them one of the two most balanced sides in the world. "I think England are a very, very balanced side. One of the two best balanced sides in the world at the moment. They bat right down to 9 or 10, they are all explosive players, five or six guys can bat and bowl, and they are gun fielders as well," Kohli was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
The 28-year-old batsman, who is leading India for the first time in a major tournament, drew from the experience of facing England earlier in the year in a limited-overs series at home and termed them as a challenging side as they don't seem to have any 'weakness' at the moment.
"We experienced that in India, they are pretty hard to get past, and that's something that is going to be a challenge for every other team in the Champions Trophy as well. We always related to England as a very strong Test team, but in last two or three years post [the 2015] World Cup, they've really changed the way they play their cricket," he said.
India have been placed in Group B alongside arch-rivals Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa while hosts England will face Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand in Group A. India start their campaign on June 4 in a blockbuster clash with Pakistan at Edgbaston.