"We are pretty sorted with how we want to go about the World Cup." © AFP

Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper, has defended the decision to back Vijay Shankar for a place in the World Cup squad ahead of Ambati Rayudu, who was considered for the much-contested No. 4 position in the line-up for almost a year. He echoed the words of the chief selector MSK Prasad but added that who bats at what position will be decided later.

"We tried a lot of things. There were a few combinations that we tried," Kohli told India Today. "Eventually when Vijay came in, it was three dimensional: he can bowl, he can field, he can bat.

"He is a proper batsman as well. That just gave us an option, saying why not have that kind of balance which other teams have had all these years. From that point of view, we all agreed on it."

Even as Prasad had said that Vijay will be the first-choice option at No. 4, with KL Rahul and Dinesh Karthik serving as the backup, the Indian skipper added, "We are pretty sorted with how we want to go about the World Cup. Obviously, who bats where is the decision for later."

While Kohli has backed MS Dhoni to be India's No. 5 despite his struggles to accelerate in the death overs. It is a move that is not in sync with his deputy Rohit Sharma, who had said that he would play Dhoni a position above that. Kohli also said that his decision to back Dhoni when the former captain was struggling to score as freely as he did in the past came from his own experience of how he was backed when his place in the team wasn't cemented.

"For me, loyalty matters the most. When I walked into the team, he had the chance of trying someone else after a few games. Although I grabbed my opportunities really early, he gave me an opportunity to understand my game and gave me time in the game.

"For me, those things are very important because I know the kind of phase I was coming into. And if he is going through a phase where he has to work things out, he deserves that respect, it's not like I [gifted] it to him.

"You look at what he's done for the country, no one can [gift] him that space, he deserves it. So we were just doing our bit to tell people that you need to think in the same manner.

"It's not like we are giving him something, he deserves this and he is intelligent enough to know what's going on in his life, in his cricket, everything. It was important to give him space, for which people did not have much patience at that time. Now after 12 months people are saying he is the most important factor in the World Cup, which is true. We knew deep down all along."

Kohli further added that even as he has been a part of two World Cups earlier, leading the team in 2019 will throw up new challenges and he will have a tougher job at hand.

"This is going to be the tournament in which I will be involved in a lot of things," he explained. "In 2011, I was not involved in a lot of things, was not involved in a lot of meetings, the pressures that come along. At this point in time, it's going to be different.

"Even in 2015, I wasn't involved to an extent where I had to be part of everything that is going on. To understand the magnitude of a tournament like this from a captain's point of view is a different ball game. When you play so much international cricket, after a while you need a bigger challenge and there's nothing bigger than the World Cup."