Virat Kohli joins Sachin Tendulkar in condemning two new ball usage in ODI cricket

Virat Kohli joins Sachin Tendulkar in condemning two new ball usage in ODI cricket

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BCCI

Virat Kohli has joined Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis to state that the usage of two new balls in ODIs has made the game batsman-friendly. After England’s one dominating performance after another, Tendulkar tweeted that two new balls have reduced the importance of reverse-swing in 50-over game.

Yesterday, Jason Roy scored his second century of the series and shared in an opening stand of 174 runs with Jonny Bairstow, which was the fifth century partnerships between the pair. Their good opening was capitalized by Jos Buttler who made a stroke-filled unbeaten 59 off 29 balls to help England take a 4-0 lead over their Ashes rivals with one match to go.

While yesterday’s win was England's second-highest successful chase in their history, it is also to be remembered that it followed the world record score of 481 runs they scored at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. While some may perceive it as a batting line-up in exceptional form, Tendulkar found the pressure on bowlers ridiculous and he duly expressed it in Twitter.

On being asked the same, Kohli, during the press conference before India's departure to Ireland and England, replied, "I've read a lot of things about two new balls and I agree it's brutal for the bowlers. There's hardly any room for attacking cricket left from a bowler's point of view if you do not provide pitches that assist them with the new ball.”

"I have played ODI cricket when there was only one new ball allowed and reverse swing used to be a massive factor in the latter half of the innings which as a batsman was more challenging. Nowadays, I honestly feel that yeah it's very difficult for the bowlers with two new balls and if the pitch is flat they have no way out. Unless you have wrist spinners in your team which can do the job in the middle overs. Not every team has that cushion so they find it difficult," Kohli added.

Tendulkar’s view was endorsed by one of the finest exponents of reverse-swing, Waqar Younis as he stated that two new bowlers resulted in the diminishing of attacking fast bowlers. 

However, Kohli saw an edge for India in that count as he said that India’s wrist-spinners are good with two new balls.

"If the pitches are similar to what you get all over the world, which is for shorter formats being batting friendly, and people want to see runs and all that. What's been the difference with us is the 2 X-factors [Chahal, Kuldeep] in the middle overs. We've actually been able to create flat wickets into exciting ones because of our variety. From that point of view, I'm very excited to see these guys bowling in conditions that might not assist them so much. But it's the skill in the wrist that did the job in South Africa, and I'm sure teams are thinking about it.

"When it's a full 50-over game, you cannot go that hard for 20 overs in a row. They can get you out in any particular over. They give the fast bowlers the freedom to attack even more."

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