ENG vs IND | Virat Kohli is my biggest wicket to date, attests Ollie Robinson
Robinson dismissed Kohli during the final hour's play on Day 1
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After claiming Virat Kohliâs wicket in the first innings of the second Test at Lord's, England pacer Ollie Robinson has stated that it is his biggest scalp to date. Robinson also credited Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for their performance with the bat as the visitors ended the day on 276/3.
Ollie Robinson troubled the Indian batsmen with his swing and consistency and clinched five wickets against the visitors at Trent Bridge. The pacer could not take his good form to the last innings as rain curtailed the final innings which meant the first Test ended as a draw. In the second Test, that kicked off yesterday, India were invited to bat first by the hosts as the English skipper Joe Root won the toss.
After Pujara was sent packing for just nine runs, the incoming Kohli forged a brilliant third wicket partnership (117 runs) with Rahul before Robinson claimed the scalp of the Indian skipper. Robinson clinched the wicket soon after the second new ball was taken as Kohli edged one to Joe Root. The 27-year-old pacer attested that Virat Kohliâs wicket is his biggest to date.
"Virat is probably my biggest wicket to date, so I was happy with that. It was a huge moment. The plan for him was always to bowl the fourth-fifth stump line, back of a length. Luckily the plan worked," said Robinson after stumps on Thursday, reported PTI.
Earlier, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma played with temperament to bring Indiaâs first century opening stand outside Asia since 2011. Put into bat under testing conditions, the Indian batsmen played accordingly and built a 126 runs stand for the first wicket. The duo stood solid at the crease without any fancy footworks or lofted shots by sticking to the basics. There were few nervous moments but the batsmen handled it effectively. Robinson credited the Indian batsmen for the effort they have put up in the first innings of the second Test match.
"There were probably 10-15 play-and-misses that I could count and, on another day, we might have had them two-three down early on," the 27-year-old rued.
"I felt we did bowl well. We toiled hard against their batters, and to be fair, they played well. It's just one of those days where they didn't nick it to be honest," he said.
Robinson explained the lack of wickets in the first innings by stating that the wicket at Lordâs is on the slower side. The pacer also revealed that the English seamers tried to go for a wobble seam but it did not lead to any serious issues for the Indian batsmen.
"The swing was a little bit inconsistent, I don't know if it was the ball or the overheads. We decided to go wobble-seam for a little bit, which we felt was a good plan, but the wicket was a little bit slow for it and not as receptive as we thought it might be."
