IND vs BAN | Virat Kohli made it look very easy, says Anshuman Gaekwad
Former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad has said that Virat Kohli made it all look very easy during his knock of 136 in unknown conditions in the pink Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens. Gaekwad further agreed with the thinking behind trying variations to get Test cricket to a bigger audience.
On Saturday, the Indian skipper became the first Indian batsman to score a century in Pink Ball Tests. Ahead of the game, much of the talk was about the pink ball seaming and swinging around, but Kohli entered the fray and dominated the new conditions with his drives, flicks, cuts, and pulls. What particularly impressed Gaekwad Kohli’s ability to come back from a break — Kohli had skipped the T20 series against Bangladesh — and resume scoring like this.
"I think it was too easy for him, made it look very easy. I didn't find anything major happening with the ball. Virat is a class apart and most importantly it is the consistency with which he bats that is very rare. You do get runs like Rohit Sharma gets hundreds, double hundreds, but there is a break,” Gaekwad told IANS.
"It was a break which was good for him and he required it. And now he gets back doubly strong. People like him are geniuses like Sachin Tendulkar for that matter. Breaks don't matter to them and help them rejuvenate and come back strongly. He is the difference between men and boys."
With the pink-ball experiment going well for the Men in Blue so far, India may well play another day-night Test when they visit Australia next — something Gaekwad reckons will not prove a major difference.
"I don't think things will change much if we play a Pink Ball Test in Australia. Pink ball is as good as any other cricket ball. Only the colour is different and the coating. That is because of the leather that you are looking at. It is only a case of the ball lasting longer,” he said.
"Going to Australia, I don't think it will make much of a difference. The wickets are harder than the Indian wickets. We saw some movement, but that was late movement only after it went past the batsman. There was nothing significant which everyone was talking about. Didn't see anything different as such."
Much of the talk surrounding the match in Kolkata has been if Test cricket under lights can be the future of the game and, to them, Gaekwad questions, "Why not? When we played we didn't have white balls. Now you have pink balls. Tomorrow we may see orange balls. It all depends. Test cricket is something everyone needs to look into, especially from the crowd point of view. That is where different things are being tried."
0
0
0
0
0
0
Comments
Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions
0 Comments