Champions Trophy: Who said what

The first full week of action at the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 threw up stunning surprises and threw out strong favourites as the tournament headed for the business end.

Here’s some of the memorable quotes.

"Wasn't the first game the biggest? Against Pakistan you said was the biggest match of my career yet!”

Virat Kohli (June 10) shoots back at a journalist before the match against South Africa, on whether it was the biggest ever of his captaincy career. 

"If we live in the past, there's lots of scars that we can think of, lots of bad experiences."

AB de Villiers (June 6) is a fan of letting bygones be bygones.

“We actually did no fielding at all. We had rain the other day, so actually we did nothing!”

Sarfraz Ahmed (June 7), after the match against South Africa, candidly admits that the improvement in the fielding couldn’t be attributed to practice.

"One is called Kane and one Joe. Obviously, they're both world-class players. They can both be destructive without hitting those massively big shots; they kill teams softly."

Martin Guptill (June 5) has a rather straightforward take on the comparison between Joe Root and Kane Williamson. 

“Even a couple days ago, I was asking him ‘can you come and play for us in this game’. He's been in absolute form. He's been in form ever since he started playing, to be honest.”

Angelo Mathews (June 7) jokingly accepts that he has been wooing the in-form Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lankan captain, to join the team ahead of the game against India.

"If batsmen come out and play like that and everyone plays well, you have to give credit to the opposition as well. We're not invincible. We're playing against other sides who are also champion sides."

Virat Kohli (June 8) doffs his hat to the fearless approach of the Sri Lankan batsman, which took the game away from India.

“He's a quality player. Everybody gets a first-baller. It's just taken him 200 games."

Russell Domingo (June 8) isn't too fussed about AB de Villiers's form and expects him to bounce back sooner rather than later.

"In the country, yeah, you would think it would swing around a little bit. It's been very cold.”

Trent Boult (June 8) is rather surprised by the lack of swing in England this time around.

“I think even the dressing room wouldn’t have had that belief at that time, when we were 33 for 4.” 

Shakib Al Hasan (June 9) acknowledges that with four wickets down, Bangladesh didn’t fancy chasing down 266 against New Zealand.

“His potential is through the roof. I think he bowled four overs in his first spell, and then I went back to him at the end with two of the hardest overs to bowl, sums him up."

Eoin Morgan (June 10) gushes about Ben Stokes, after the latter’s all-round performance slammed the door on Australia's Champions Trophy campaign.

“You say that we only had one hit, but that should be good enough for the players that we've got on our team."

Steve Smith (June 10) believes that despite two washouts, Australia should have qualified for the semi-final, given the resources.

“I'm a good captain. I love doing it. And I can take this team forward. I can take us to win a World Cup, I believe."

AB de Villiers (June 11) insists he has no plans of relinquishing the South African captaincy.

"You have to be honest. You have to sometimes say things that hurt. That's what I believe in. You have to lay it out in front of them that this is what we did wrong, including me, and we need to take it on the chin and accept it and prove it."

Virat Kohli (June 11), on what he told his Indian team after the defeat against Sri Lanka.