India vs England | Virat Kohli’s batting left Sam Curran Awestruck

08/03/2018

Sam Curran, the English left-arm pacer, has stated that he was highly amazed by Virat Kohli’s batting performance on the second day of the first Test match between India and England at Edgbaston. The Surrey pacer has also mentioned that bowling to the Indian skipper was a big lesson for him.

The new-look Indian side this year looks much better than the teams that travelled to UK over the years and anything less than a series win would surely be considered as a disappoint for the Indian fans. To cope with such a big challenge posed by the Indian side, the hosts also made a few reluctant changes to their team so as to sabotage India’s plans and one such change being the inclusion of a new young pacer, Sam Curran.

While his inclusion ahead of Essex’s Jamie Porter, known for his brilliant performances on helpful wickets, was surprising, Curran lived up to the expectations and picked up three crucial wickets at the start of the Indian innings and then dished out a perfect delivery to get the better of Hardik Pandya later in the innings. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan played in a steady manner and kept the score 50 for no loss before Curran came from the pavilion end and ripped through the Indian top-order that included three wickets in a space of eight balls to leave the Indian side reeling at a score of 59 for 3 wickets.

However, the Indian skipper had a different response to Curran’s whipping deliveries. Kohli struck a majestic century, as India didn’t let the advantage to slip into the hands of the English on day 2 at Edgbaston. It was a high-octane innings of unbelievable tenacity and perseverance, that made Curran sit up and take notice.

“We had them at 100 for five, and felt in the game but then Virat played really well with their tail and frustrated us a little bit. Numbers 9, 10 or 11 aren’t walkovers anymore, and they can all hold a bat now. It was a frustrating partnership, but we’ve just got to be positive going into Friday,” Curran was quoted as saying by IANS.

“Credit to a great innings there. I’m only in my second game, but I think it was a little eye-opener for watching the way he bats and how precise you’ve got to be with your lengths to him. Personally, it was obviously a pretty special day for me with the ball. Coming on and taking a few early wickets, I can’t really remember it was so unreal. You can’t really predict (if it will swing) until you start bowling a few,” the pacer added.

India vs England | Virat Kohli’s batting left Sam Curran Awestruck

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