IND vs NZ | Ishant was very normal in nets like he used to, reveals Virat Kohli

IND vs NZ | Ishant was very normal in nets like he used to, reveals Virat Kohli

no photo

|

BCCI

Ahead of the first Test against New Zealand, Virat Kohli has stated that Ishant Sharma looked very normal in the nets and bowled with the same intensity like he used to before the ankle injury. Kohli has also hinted that Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw will open the innings at the Basin Reserve.

Ishant joined the Indian team in Hamilton for the only warm-up game of the tour after clearing his fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Earlier, Sharma had injured his right ankle during a Ranji Trophy game against Vidarbha in January and had been a doubt for the Test series in New Zealand, which had propelled BCCI to keep Navdeep Saini as a cover for the veteran pacer. However, a couple of days to go for the first Test at the Basin Reserve, Virat Kohli has clarified that the pacer was hitting the stride well enough.

“Ishant looked very normal like he used to bowl before sustaining the ankle injury. He is bowling good areas with proper pace. Obviously he has got good experience, played a couple of series before in New Zealand as well. His experience is going to be vital for us and it is so good to see him bowling with pace again,” Kohli said in the press conference in Wellington. 

After Rohit Sharma’s injury in the fifth T20I of the tour, he was ruled out from the Test series as well, making way for Prithvi Shaw to be included in the side. With Shubman Gill still there, opinions were divided on who would open the innings with Mayank Agarwal. Kohli, while talking about the experience of the Indian openers, hinted that Shaw and Agarwal will get the first nod.

“We can call Prithvi rather inexperienced but Mayank, I won’t call him that inexperienced now, because he scored a lot of runs last year. He understands what his game is like. In white-ball cricket, sometimes, you tend to overdo at times, but in red-ball cricket, you obviously fall into the disciplined mode which Mayank does very well. Prithvi, of course, is a very talented player. He has his own game and instinct. We want him to play the way he does,” the Indian skipper said.

Many an Indian openers in the past got overwhelmed by the opposition and conditions in the past - look no further than Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay - but this time India come to New Zealand with a bunch of rather inexperienced openers, with a combined Test experience of 11 matches. While this could be a problem, Kohli looked at the brighter side of the dilemma. 

“Look, these guys have no baggage, these guys are not desperate to perform here, they don’t have any nerve to do well because they haven’t done well in the past. Hopefully, the clear head will help them. That helped Mayank in Australia and hopefully, Prithvi will do the same in New Zealand and Mayank can continue playing like that. A bunch of new players play with a lot of fearlessness. That motivates the whole team and help us not get intimidated by New Zealand,” the 31-year-old said.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all