Kohli gets ready for Kiwis
Bengaluru, November 10
Virat Kohli’s net sessions are almost as intense and well-calculated as his real-game batting. India’s optional nets here today witnessed Kohli meticulously going about polishing his skills against short-pitched bowling and left-arm spin, preparing no doubt for India’s potential semifinal against New Zealand.
The Kiwis are in the poll position to face India in Mumbai on November 15. The immediate goal in front of Kohli might be the Netherlands game, but he will also have an eye on India’s semifinal.
One of the challenges the Black Caps will pose to Kohli will be through Lockie Ferguson. The express pacer is yet to fire like he did in the 2019 World Cup, partially because of a right Achilles issue. But Ferguson showed signs of hitting his peak against Sri Lanka here yesterday, rattling the middle and lower order with a barrage of short-pitched balls.
Ferguson is quite certain to repeat the tactics against India. Though Kohli owns one of the better pulls in contemporary cricket, the former India captain did not leave anything to chance. Pacer Shardul Thakur bowled an array of bouncers at Kohli and he had little difficulty in smoking several of them away, some shots travelling as far as the second tier.
The 35-year-old also attempted a couple of ramp shots, which might prove handy against a bowler like Ferguson who can hit north of 150 kmph.
The second testing point for Kohli might come in the form of Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin. In the past, left-arm spinners such as Keshav Maharaj, Shakib Al Hasan and Dunith Wellalage have had success against Kohli. Since January 2021, Kohli averages just over 13 against left-arm spinners with a strike-rate of 66.
Santner has been New Zealand’s best bowler here, consistently hitting the right length to keep the batters’ largely silent. It has reflected in his numbers — 16 wickets from nine matches with an economy rate of 4.6. Kohli averages just 9.33 across 17 matches against Santner, having been dismissed three times.
NZ ready for business end
Ferguson said New Zealand would head into a likely semifinal against India charged with confidence after snapping a four-match losing streak against Sri Lanka.
“We’ve had some tight games and some tight losses over the last few weeks but certainly within the camp there’s a lot of confidence in the type of cricket we play,” Ferguson said. “We know that if we play the way we want to play, we’ll come out on the right side of the draw. We’ll see what happens in the last few games … hopefully we’ll have a couple more pushes.”
Strike duo Trent Boult and Tim Southee accounted for Sri Lanka’s four top-order wickets, Ferguson and Santner took over in the middle overs before all-rounder Rachin Ravindra mopped up the tail.
“Throughout the World Cup, the bowling attacks that have done well have passed the baton to the next bowler,” Ferguson said.
“The more you build the pressure, eventually something will happen. We probably haven’t had as much as we’d have liked over the whole World Cup but it was nice to see Boulty and Tim get some early wickets,” he added.
