Trevor Bayliss: Pressure on other batsmen will put Kohli under pressure
England coach Trevor Bayliss feels the seemingly peerless Virat Kohli can be put under pressure if the home team’s bowlers can continue to tame the rest of the Indian line-up in the ongoing Test series. “If Virat Kohli is not the best batsman [in the world], he’s very close to it. The way he played the first and second innings was high-class stuff. If we can put pressure on the other batsmen in the Indian team, that’s going to add to the pressure on him,” Bayliss told reporters here.
“I don’t think it’s any different for us. We’ve got a few guys who are not necessarily cemented in the team and that put extra pressure on people like Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow,” said Bayliss.
India lost the first Test here by 31 runs after two successive batting collapses, during which Kohli stood out with his heroics — a hundred in the first innings and a half century in the second essay. “In this first Test, the four innings had wickets falling left, right and center - all batsmen were in trouble, even Kohli, who I don’t think was all that comfortable early on. It was difficult to bat, probably more difficult than it looked from outside,” he added.
Bayliss said he expects the Indian team to learn quickly from the mistakes committed while tackling the moving ball just as his team would look to address its weak handling of spin, in the remaining four matches of the series.
“India are a very good team. We’re very much in the hunt here. When the ball’s moving, we’ve shown that a few of their guys do struggle against the moving ball. I’m sure that they’ll be going away working out how they can play it as we’re going working on how to play the off spin,” he added.
All-rounder Ben Stokes will be appearing in Bristol on Monday to answer charges of affray during a pub brawl. England have drafted in pacer Chris Woakes as replacement with 20-year-old batsman Oliver Pope getting his maiden call-up in place of
“India are a very good team. When the ball’s moving, we’ve shown that a few of their guys do struggle against the moving ball”
Dawid Malan. Bayliss said the home team is well-settled. “His [Stokes’] preparation and approach was no different to what we’ve seen before. You wouldn’t have known there was anything coming up. He’s been absolutely golden. It will be interesting to see who can step up and take his place,” Bayliss said.
Pope’s inclusion means one more left-hander in the English line-up for R Ashwin to bowl against. Bayliss said this factor wasn’t and won’t be a concern when picking the playing eleven at Lord’s. “We’re not going to pick a second-best team because they’re all right-handers. Certainly, with Ashwin bowling so well to all batsmen but obviously to the left-handers, we’ll have to have a bit of a chat and see how we might be able to play him a little different.”