India vs England: Kohli echoes Ashwin’s criticism of SG ball

Virat Kohli joined his teammate R. Ashwin in criticising the quality of the SG ball that was used for the first Test between India and England in Chennai.

Virat Kohli said that the quality of the ball was not something that the team was pleased with.

Virat Kohli joined teammate R. Ashwin in criticising the quality of the SG ball that was used during the first Test.

“Honestly, the quality of the ball was not something that we were pleased about because that has been an issue in the past as well,” said Kohli on Tuesday.

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“Just for the ball’s seam to completely be destroyed after 60 overs is not something that you experience as a Test side and something that any test side could be prepared for,” he added.

“In this game, the ball was pretty bizarre because I have never seen an SG ball tear through the seam like that,” Ashwin had said after the fourth day’s play.

“It could well be a combination of how hard the pitch was on the first two days. Even in the second innings, after the 35th-40th over, the seam started to sort of peel of. I have not seen an SG ball like that in the last so many years,” he had noted.

On the first day, pacer Jasprit Bumrah had said that once the ball became soft it was difficult to get reverse swing since the new Covid restrictions banned the use of saliva to shine the ball and maintain it.