Dubai: The batting form of Virat Kohli has been the talking point for a very long time and hence when the star batter took guard to begin his batting stint at the nets, one could not but admire the work of the genius.
Coming in after the openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who certainly is yet to find the touch that allowed him to score runs in tons in both the international arena and the Indian Premier League, but there is a lot of difference batting at the nets and batting during a match. The match between the neighbours India and Pakistan is almost two days away and the Indian vice-captain will have enough time to get his timing right. Rohit, on the other hand, played in his typical style to suggest he’s in his zone as well.
Though the argument that nets is different from a match holds good even for Kohli, who was batting along with Suryakumar Yadav, but the former Indian skipper had so much time to play his shots, hitting his trademark drives with ease while his penchant to play more on the on side took the ball more towards the square leg fence. Barring one or two false shots, especially a short ball outside the off stump,
Best foot forward
Kohli didn’t put a foot wrong and when Kohli jogged out of the nets after completing his batting under the watchful eyes of coach V.V.S. Laxman, it clearly suggested that the star enjoyed his batting. It’s important that Kohli gets runs in the first match, which will boost his and the team’s morale.
Suryakumar Yadav’s batting is now SKY high, certainly improvising his shots against the same bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Avesh Khan, who were testing the skills of the other batters on a wicket that assisted seam bowlers to a great extent.
Differnt kettle of fish
Hardik Pandya is another batter who showed that he is a different kettle of fish and playing with Dinesh Karthik, he even checked with the bowlers on their field placement to get the match feeling. Still Pandya was not troubled much and continued in the same fashion. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja played lofty stokes to complete the proceedings. However, one missed watching Ravichandran Ashwin, who was subdued today.
Though it’s still early days and India might change their plans, but it certainly gives an indication on the team’s thought process.
