KL Rahul is going to be brought back into action straightaway after his recovery from illness in spite of the decent performances of the two Indian openers who had played in Galle.
One of the openers Shikhar Dhawan had actually been named the player of the match there, while the other one Abhinav Mukund had also scored 80 odd in the second innings.
So it was believed that it would be quite tough for Virat and the Indian team management to drop any of them going ahead in the series.
But, Virat while addressing the press prior to the start of the Colombo test stressed that Rahul’s consistency in the past couldn’t be overlooked.
Virat reckons that it’s important to give a player a sense of security about his position in the XI especially if he has done well over a period of time.
Virat Kohli has declared that the friendship with the Australians is over after their heated series in April left their relationships and friendships in tatters. The star player said that, while they were friends off the field, when the teams enter the area of battle all friendships end.
He says he is friends with the opponents off the field but added that the ill-tempered four-match series could change things. Kohli struggled to have much impact before he was forced to withdraw in the final Test due to injury, only for him to return strongly in his onslaught against the Aussies.
WIth him in the team, India were favourites on williamhill.com, but once he was withdrawn, India’s chances of victory tumbled.
“I’m really good friends with all these guys off the field. I know them really well, but I know where to draw the line of friendship. When you step onto the field, I could be playing against my big brother it wouldn’t matter,” he said ahead of the Test.
Kohli and fellow captain had it bad when Steve Smith breached the rule of looking towards the dressing room for tips before the DRS review. Kohli accused the Australian team of systematic impropriety, citing other times as well, in their review protocols.
There were a lot of accusations during the Tests. Kohli claimed the Australians had soiled the reputation of the physiotherapist that treated him when he injured his shoulder. The commentators from the Asian side claimed Gleen Maxwell was mocking them by clutching his right shoulder and Kohli repeated the gesture during the game.
After the game, Smith apologized for letting his “emotions falter a little bit throughout the series.” Kohli is in no mood to forgive, even hitting out at the media for their criticism of his batting. He said that his bad experiences during the course of the series have made him rethink his friendships.
“No, it has changed. I thought that was the case, but it has changed for sure,” he said in response to questions if things remained cases of friendly rivalry.
“I thought that was the case, but it has changed for sure. As I said, in the heat of the battle you want to be competitive but I’ve been proven wrong. The thing I said before the first Test, that has certainly changed and you won’t hear me say that ever again,” he added.
Anil Kumble does not believe that the weather prediction should influence the game plan of a team at all as there is no guarantee for the prediction to be true and if the game plan is based on that, the team might end up having to pay a big cost for it.
Kumble says the prediction for the third day in Jamaica said that it would be pelting down throughout the morning and the afternoon and hardly any play would be possible. But, it turned out to be fairly sunny and a number of overs were bowled. So, how can one be sure that the prediction for the following day would be bang on?
As per Kumble, India was aiming to get as much ahead of the score of the Caribbean team as possible and that’s why, the declaration came late and if the heavens had not opened up at a wrong time on Tuesday when the hosts were in tatters having lost four of the top order players, the momentum could have led to India taking some more wickets and finishing the game off on that very day. Continue reading 'Anil Kumble says Weather can Destroy game in Caribbean'»
The Indian Cricket fraternity is totally unhappy with the fact that Steve Smith has been let go for something which perhaps deserved a ban of a couple of matches.
Smith had defended himself on the DRS controversy saying that his action was not a part of any planning. It was just a momentary thing which happened in a flow and he realized almost instantly thereafter that it was wrong, but, it was not deliberate for sure.
His opposite number Virat Kohli was, however, not ready to accept that clarification and with his statements, he gave the impression that he thought Smith was lying in front of the media.
As per Virat, he could have believed Smith if he had not seen Australia do something like that before, but, he had actually noted the same thing during his batting as well whenever there was a close umpiring decision and he had even made the umpires aware of his suspicion. And then seeing it the next day again, it’s now hard for him to agree that it would have happened in the heat of the moment for Smith. Continue reading 'Indian Cricket fraternity Unhappy with Steve’s Let Off by ICC'»
The third day of the fourth test, played at the Wankhede Stadium last week Saturday, saw Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, share a century stand as India started out strong in reply to England’s total of 400 on Friday, the second day of the fourth test played at the Wankhede Stadium.
After Lokesh Rahul had fallen following an opening stand of 39 with Vijay, the right handed pair added 107 runs for the second wicket.
From both ends after seven overs, Alastair Cook, England’s captain introduced spin which saw a considerable turn on over from Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.
In his 24, Rahul went on to hit four crisp boundaries, before Moeen, off spinner, breached his defences to bowl him.
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