England vs India | I would want Virat Kohli to play even if he’s only 50 percent, says Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar has claimed that he would play Virat Kohli in the third Test at Trent Bridge even if the 29-year old was just 50 percent fit after he complained of back pain in the post-match interview. Kohli has a niggling back injury and was seen receiving treatment on the ground at Lord's.
If there’s one good thing going for the Indian cricket team on their rather underproductive trip to the UK so far, it’s that Virat Kohli has looked to have forgotten about his previous outing on English soil. Kohli averaged just 13.50 in his ten Test innings in England back then but turned that around this time with scores of 159 and 51 in the Edgbaston Test where India suffered a narrow 31-run loss.
This is why, it was important that he continued to stay on the pitch and lead from the front ahead of a crucial third Test that awaited the Indian team at Trent Bridge opined Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar, who played 125 Test matches for India, said unless Kohli couldn’t walk, he had to play.
“Virat Kohli has to assess his injury himself.. whether to take the risk or not… But if I were the captain, I would want Kohli to play even if he’s 50 per cent fit. He’s such a crucial element. He has to play unless he can’t bend or walk. At the end of the day, he has to decide how much pain he can bear. For me Virat has to play,” the 69-year-old legendary opening batsman told India Today.
Gavaskar was highly critical of the Indian batsmen’s performance thus far and claimed that since no one apart from Kohli, managed to cross the 50-run mark in the first two games, the team needed to spend more time in the nets.
“I can understand they have taken the day off today.. they are still licking the wounds of the defeat at Lord’s but they should have been planning to leave for Nottingham after today which would have been the last day of the Lord’s Test and practice from tomorrow.
“But clearly as we have seen from the start of the ODI series, they are in love with London. You cannot get practice facilities in London as easily as you would in Nottingham – I hope they practice from Tuesday. And there should be no optional practice. Everybody needs to get down to practice There’s no such thing as optional practice when you are 0-2 down.” the former India captain added.
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