With Virat Kohli facing tough times during the ongoing New Zealand tour, the Black Caps’ left-arm pacer Trent Boult talked about their planning, to handle the top-ranked batsman Kohli on Kiwis shores.
The hosts New Zealand and the visitors India are currently playing the second and final Test of the series at Christchurch, which India must have to win to save this series.
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Kohli has scored a total of 218 runs in 11 innings of this tour (average 19.81), the right-handed batsman has only scored 38 runs in four innings (average 9.50) of the ongoing Test series.
In the Test series, Kohli scored 2, 19, 3 and 14 runs. Due to his recent poor form, Kohli has just lost the top spot of the ICC Test batting rankings.
It was nice to see Virat Kohli make a few errors: Trent Boult
Kiwis speedster Boult has admitted that Kohli is one of the best players in the world. However, the 30-year-old left-arm pacer is equally happy to see Kohli was making some mistakes under pressure.
Boult said about Kohli, “He is one of the best players in the world, no doubt about that. Obviously, he is a big player for them and we just tried to put enough pressure on him, keep him quiet and soak up those boundary balls, and it was nice to see him make a few errors.
“We were lucky to get two that lined up and hit him on the pads nicely and it was a good feeling to see the back of him.”
The Indian Test batsmen have continuously failed to bat well on the New Zealand tour. While India were bowled out for 165 and 191 runs in the first Test of this series at Wellington, they were all out for 242 runs in the first innings of the ongoing Test at Christchurch. At the stumps of day two of the ongoing Test, India were reeling at 90 for six with the lead of 97 runs.
Talking about Indian batsmen’s continuous struggle in the New Zealand conditions, Boult believes that India may haven’t managed to adjust with the overseas conditions yet, as he personally feel in foreign conditions.
Boult claimed, “Probably, they are used to playing on low and slow pitches in India and it took time for them to get adjusted.
“Just like if I bowl in India, it will be foreign conditions for me.”
Seeing the ball move around like it did, I feel we are in a decent position: Trent Boult
On day one of the ongoing Christchurch Test, India were bowled out for 242 runs while the hosts were batting on 63/0. But on the second day, a total of 16 wickets fell as New Zealand were bowled out for 235 runs.
While India have got the 97 runs lead, Boult feels that they are currently in a decent position in this match.
The Kiwi left-arm pacer added, “Sixteen wickets, I am not sure if that’s up there with a record in Test cricket in terms of day two but the bowlers obviously pitched the ball up nicely and got rewards.
“Seeing the ball move around like it did, I feel we are in a decent position.”
Besides, Boult is very happy with the domination of the New Zealand bowling unit in the ongoing Test series.
He added, “We are all enjoying hunting out there as a pack, getting the ball to move around. I think the bowling unit is very clear about how they are trying to target the opposition.”
After managing to pick up two wickets (2/89) in the first innings of the Christchurch Test, Boult has also taken three wickets (3/12) in India’s second innings.