Skipper Kohli pleased with a wagging tail

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

KANPUR, September 26

On Indian pitches, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are always expected to deliver the goods. The duo have always lived up to the expectations.

In the first Test against New Zealand, Ashwin and Jadeja sparkled, picking up 16 of the 20 Black Caps wickets that fell. Ashwin finished with a 10-wicket match haul on the final day.

While the performance of both the spinners drew praise from Virat Kohli, the Test skipper credited the valuable contribution by India’s lower-order batsmen in both the innings. He also praised Cheteshwar Pujara for batting with an attacking intent at No. 3.

According to Kohli, the team’s lower-order put a “psychological dent” on the opposition. “One of the most important things in Test cricket is to have a strong lower-order. This is one area we are working hard with our bowlers. Everyone from Ashwin onwards wants to contribute, and that puts a psychological dent on the opposition,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation. “They think they can get you out for 300, but you end up getting 340-360, and thus the momentum shifts. That makes a psychological difference. We have improved in this area and we need to keep working on it because those 40-50 runs will be crucial when we play abroad,” he added.

Later, Kohli elaborated on this point by saying that he was never worried about New Zealand going for a draw when Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner were batting.

“It wasn’t much of a concern. The reason we scored those extra 30-40 runs was because we could bat them out of the game. That’s exactly what we planned to do. You could not have defended on this wicket,” he said.

“We had the luxury of having enough runs. Obviously, you have to strengthen your batting on a wicket that might be a 50-50. In the first innings, Ashwin and Jadeja made good contributions. Jadeja got that 40-odd partnership with Umesh (Yadav). He was pretty solid in the second innings. Along with Rohit Sharma, he played positively. The quick runs gave us an extra hour to bowl at them. Otherwise, we would have declared with our tailenders batting one hour after the tea. That gave us the whole session and we got four wickets yesterday,” the skipper explained. 

Double trouble for NZ  

Jadeja scored unbeaten 42 and 50 runs in the first and second innings, respectively, while Ashwin made 40 runs in the first innings. Jadeja had a 41-run stand with Yadav for the last wicket in the first innings.

There was praise for Ashwin as well. “It’s priceless to have a cricketer like Ashwin in the Test team. He gives a balance with both bat and the ball. If you see the top-notch impact players, he comes in the top three-four easily. Bowlers are the one, I feel, that win you Test matches, and Ashwin is one of them,” he signed off.