Dismissing Kohli ‘huge’, says Ollie
OLLIE ROBINSON admitted it had not been England’s day after India’s batsman cashed in at the start of the second Test, but felt his late dismissal of Virat Kohli could yet be a ‘huge’ moment in the match.
India were invited to bat first at Lord’s after heavy clouds delayed the start of play, but if Joe Root was anticipating lavish swing and edges galore they did not materialise. Instead England laboured away without much reward as the tourists reached an imposing 276 for three.
The odds are already stacked against England but the boost of having India’s best player in the pavilion when they resume today could yet prove important.
‘We toiled hard today against their
batters and, to be fair, they played well. So to get the wicket of Kohli at the end of the day was huge and gives us a bit of momentum for the morning,’ Robinson said. ‘The plan to him was always to bowl fourth or fifth stump, back of a length... luckily the plan worked.’
Robinson had no qualms about Root’s decision to bowl first and thought the scoreboard told a misleading story about the contest in the middle.
‘There were probably ten or 15 play and misses that I could count and on another day we might have had them two or three down early on,’ Robinson suggested.
‘We definitely looked at conditions and thought we could get a few early ones here. I think on another day it might have happened and I felt we did bowl well.
‘It’s just one of those days where they didn’t nick it to be honest.’