500? Teams to defend half that, says Kohli

India skipper Virat Kohli has poured cold water on widespread expectations a team will score 500 at the forthcoming World Cup, though his Australian counterpart Aaron Finch still believes anything is possible.

Some may see it as pre-tournament hype and others just a reflection of how T20 has emboldened batsmen, but the idea of a team scoring at 10 runs an over for 300 balls has taken hold ahead of this year's showpiece event.

Hosts and favourites England have made no secret that they believe they're capable of breaking a barrier few would ever have thought possible.

Yet Kohli, who some argue is already the greatest ODI batter of all-time, predicted that the pressure of a World Cup would put the brakes on scoring rates.

"England seem obsessed with getting to 500 before anyone else and there is a lot of talk about someone doing it at this tournament," Kohli said at the ICC's captain's media day.

"But at a World Cup, things are totally different. As the tournament goes on, scoring will become harder and pitches will deteriorate.

"If a side bats first and gets 260 or 270, then that will be hard to chase. I promise you, you will see 250 defended in this tournament.

"Chasing those totals will be almost as hard as chasing a 360 or 370 outside of a World Cup. Not all teams will win matches early on and some won't be in good positions.

"They will need results and when you need to apply pressure, teams may play a bit more conservatively. It won't be gung-ho from ball one."

Finch, perhaps understandably given Australia's bruising ODI series against England last year, was more bullish on the possibility of the 500-run mark being passed.

Had it not been for a battered Australian bowling outfit admirably nailing a few yorkers in the final overs of a chaotic innings at Trent Bridge last year, England might have already reached the landmark. They finished 6-481 in the match, a world record.

Under new bowling coach Adam Griffith, Australia's fast bowlers have been fine-tuning their yorkers to ensure they don't go close to conceding such a monster total again.

"If you look at the trajectory of scores in this country, they've been going up and up," said Finch. "We've been on the receiving end of the highest one.

"I don't want to put a number on (what could be scored) because it's going to be so hard to tell with some games on some pretty good wickets on some pretty good grounds.

"If top orders get going, teams are so explosive these days and they continue to keep going through the 50 overs, it could be anything."

All the captains polled on the issue stressed the importance of quality bowling at this year's World Cup.

Each skipper was also asked by school student which player from another team they'd steal if given the chance. Kohli picked South Africa's Faf du Plessis, Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed picked Jos Buttler, Bangladesh's Mashrafe Mortaza chose Kohli and Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne picked Ben Stokes. 

But while those skippers nominated big-hitting batsmen, du Plessis (who couldn't separate Jasprit Bumrah, Rashid Khan and Pat Cummins), Finch (Kagiso Rabada) and New Zealand's Kane Williamson (Rashid) all agreed on the importance of bowling.

"We've spoken a lot about the batting, but of equal importance is the bowling attacks and how they operate to restrict some of those bigger totals," Williamson said.

"In the first half of the competition there will be some free-flowing play but also we're playing on a number of similar grounds where wicket blocks may deteriorate as well.

"There are so many matches – where some are more suited to the bat, I've got no doubt some will be suited to the ball as well."

England skipper Eoin Morgan, meanwhile, cheekily replied he'd love to poach a man who has been retired for more than six years - three-time Cup winner Ricky Ponting, who is part of Australia's coaching staff.

West Indies skipper Jason Holder and Afghanistan's Gulbadin Naib diplomatically declined to answer.

Who each captain wants

Australia – Kagiso Rabada

England – Ricky Ponting

New Zealand – Rashid Khan

South Africa - Rashid Khan, Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah

India - Faf du Plessis

Bangladesh - Virat Kohli

Pakistan - Jos Buttler

Sri Lanka - Ben Stokes

West Indies – No answer

Afghanistan - No answer

2019 World Cup

Australia's squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

May 22: (warm-up) Australia beat West Indies by seven wickets

May 25: (warm-up) England v Australia, Southampton

May 27: (warm-up) Australia v Sri Lanka, Southampton

June 1: Afghanistan v Australia, Bristol (D/N)

June 6: Australia v West Indies, Trent Bridge

June 9: India v Australia, The Oval

June 12: Australia v Pakistan, Taunton

June 15: Sri Lanka v Australia, The Oval

June 20: Australia v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge

June 25: England v Australia, Lord's

June 29: New Zealand v Australia, Lord's (D/N)

July 6: Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford (D/N)

July 9: Semi-Final 1, Old Trafford

July 11: Semi-Final 2, Edgbaston

July 14: Final, Lord's

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE