Virat Kohli not happy with the quality of balls that SG offer in India; wants Dukes ball instead
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Skipper Virat Kohli and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin were not happy with the quick deterioration of the seam of the ball during the first Test match against the West Indies. They instead demand for Dukes ball to be used everyone in the Test format whose seam remains upright for a longer period.
The first match between India and West Indies turned out to be a one-sided affair with India totally dominating the proceedings, from
"I totally agree with him; to have a ball scuffed up in five overs is something that we haven't seen before The quality of the ball used to be quite high before and I don't understand the reason why it's gone down. A Dukes ball is still good quality, Kookaburra is still good quality - whatever limitations a Kookaburra might have, the quality is never compromised” Kohli said ahead of the second test match at Hyderabad.
Moving on from specifically one type of balls to the topic of which cricket ball is the most suitable to play Test cricket, skipper Kohli vouched for the British made balls which were used in England where India recently lost the Test series 1-4.
"The Dukes ball, I think, is the most suited ball according to me for Test-match cricket and if there's a situation I would vouch for that to be used all over the world because of the consistency of the ball and how the bowlers are in the game at any stage, even the spinners, because the seam is so hard and upright. And the seamers as well, if the ball is hard you can get that extra pace but if the ball goes so soft in 10-12 overs, then your effort comes down by 20 per cent. I think the quality of the ball has to be maintained, there's no doubt about that.
After India are done with the home series against West Indies, they will move to Australia to play long series which includes all the three formats of the game. The Kookaburra balls, which are used in Australia, are not very spinner friendly and hence India will have to choose their spin arsenal very wisely to succeed down-under.
"Basically you look at guys who are putting revs on the ball, that's something that I feel always works in overseas conditions. Guys who can get the ball to bite off the pitch are the ones to succeed - not just in Indian conditions but overseas as well," Kohli said. "If you see someone like Moeen and the way he bowls, it's the pace on the ball that puts you in doubt and a little bit of an area
"Jaddu obviously is the bowler who always has done that. I think these two guys are equipped to do the job for us in any conditions and they have identified the areas that they needed to work on and they have worked on those areas. I feel with our bowling attack we don't have any kind of issues as such to find the right balance. We feel, as management, we're happy with how the guys are working towards the game."
