‘Pressurise other Indian batsmen to restrict Kohli’
BIRMINGHAM — 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.
“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 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.
England have drafted in pacer Chris Woakes along with 20-yearold batsman Oliver Pope getting his maiden call-up in place of Dawid Malan. Talking about Woakes’ recall, he said, “Chris was fine here. We had him bowling in the nets. One of first practice days here, he bowled 14 overs in the nets. He’s gone back and played a couple of T20 games and back into match mode. Fitness wise he should be fine.”
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.
He also agreed with Ashwin’s remark that Dukes ball is the best for
If Virat Kohli is not the best batsman (in the world), he’s very close to it... The way he played (in the match) was high class stuff Trevor Bayliss
Test cricket at the moment.
“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.
“It would be nice (to get Dukes in all Tests). It gets a bit of sideways movement. I’m a fan of Test cricket and you watch these games and some of these lower scores they do, most of the time, give a good Test match for the fans,” said Bayliss. —