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The 39-year-old Kenyan, who will be playing in his fifth World Cup, can draw on the experience of no fewer than 129 one-day internationals when the African side starts its Group A campaign at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
It's a sharp contrast to the likes of highly promising 20-year-old batsman Seren Waters and two 21-year-old teammates, fellow batsman Rakep Patel and spinner Shem Ngoche, who stand to feature in the tournament.
"The team is well-prepared," Tikolo told a news conference on Friday. "We are looking forward to the game against New Zealand. Obviously, we have some youngsters in the team who have come up the ranks."
But he added: "We are here to compete and do well."
Kenya has been busy in recent weeks, spending time in Ahmedabad, India and also Dubai, where it defeated Ireland and Afghanistan in practice games, in order to arrive at the tournament ready for action.
Its young side has since gone on to play another two warm-ups in Sri Lanka, where it was beaten first by West Indies and then narrowly by Netherlands in a game where Waters smashed an unbeaten 126, Patel added 64 and Ngoche returned the Kenya's second-best bowling figures after Tikolo's excellent 4-39.
"We have prepared well enough, having been in Dubai and India and now in Sri Lanka where the conditions are similar to this," Tikolo said. "If the conditions are harsh, it is going to be so for both the teams."
The Kenyans, who reached the semifinals at the 2003 World Cup, have been doing their homework ahead of Sunday's game against the five-time semifinalists, captained by Daniel Vettori.
"They have got some good players in Vettori, Ross Taylor and the McCullum brothers," Tikolo said.
"We have been watching videos on their games. I really don't want to talk about their weakness now. We are concentrating on our own game and positive cricket."
