Virat Kohli joined the team in the practice session before the Test series where he was seen playing with the pink ball. Indian team is currently preparing for the new challenge. The team is scheduled to play two-match Test series against Bangladesh from 14th November.
The second Test match of the series is the day-night Test match which will be played at Eden Gardens (Kolkata). Virat Kohli expressed that he is excited to play the game with the pink ball. Both the teams have no experience in playing the day-night Test match. Virat Kohli has claimed that to set their mindset they need to practice it with the pink ball.
“Well, I hadn’t played with the pink ball before. So I was given the experience to try it and I wanted to, that was my mindset behind playing with the pink ball. I think everyone else did it as well,” Kohli during the pre-match press conference.”
“You need extra concentration to pick the pink ball suddenly when you are playing with the red ball, so it was to work on the reflexes as well. When you play with the red ball at the net and then you arrive at the pink ball it is very difficult to pick it up, so to get into the zone was the reason behind it,” he added.
The pink ball swings more
Earlier, vice-captain Ajinkya Rhane said that the pink ball is a different ball game. In the press conference, Virat Kohli was also asked about the nature of the ball. He claims that the pink ball swings more and the seam is also different.
“The pink ball I have played yesterday, I think it swings a lot more compared to the red ball because there’s extra lacquer on the ball and doesn’t go away too fast and the seam holds upright quite a bit,” Kohli further said.
Virat Kohli doesn’t take his competitors lightly
Virat Kohli credited the whole team for improving the ranking of the Indian team in Test cricket. The team is on No.1 in the ICC Test ranking and also tops the points table of ICC World Test Championship 2019-21. He said that he is delighted with the success of the team. When he was asked about the competitors, Virat Kohli opined that he doesn’t take Bangladesh team lightly.
“We will not take any batsman or bowler from Bangladesh lightly. When they play well, they can be a very skilful team,” he said at the presser.