Virat showed the way to play in England: Engineer

Batting outside the crease & covering the swing helped Virat, according to Engineer.

Published : Aug 29, 2018 23:20 IST , MUMBAI

Virat Kohli salutes the crowd in Nottingham
Virat Kohli salutes the crowd in Nottingham
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Virat Kohli salutes the crowd in Nottingham

Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer expressed delight at Virat Kohli’s ability to adapt.

“Virat showed the way to play on wickets there. No batsman is complete unless he can gets runs in England,” said Engineer.

READ| Series on the line as India takes on unsettled England

He also felt that the current squad had the resources to turn the tables on England. Engineer is familiar with the English conditions, courtesy his stints with Lancashire.

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Excerpts:

Watching the Indian team in England: In the beginning, we were not coping with the moving ball, hung our bats out, played away from our body.

This is exactly what the England bowlers wanted us to do. Jimmy Anderson, whom I knew from Lancashire, was telling me that he could not believe his luck.

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The reason for the visitor's turnaround: Virat showed good technique, batted outside the crease, covered the swing... he showed the way to play on wickets there and it was done so quickly. That is why he is such a great player and the team is responding well to his calls.

Contributions of the coach (Ravi Shastri) and captain (Kohli): Ravi is doing a fantastic job. He has got a wealth of experience and had played in England for Glamorgan.

I am sure he must be the first one to tell his players to avoid the elementary mistakes which were made in the first two Tests.

READ| Winning in Southampton is going to be even harder, says Kohli

The resources to take on England: We are more than capable of doing that. The Nottingham performance made me feel proud of the boys.

Let us hope we make it 2-2 at Southampton. Then we go to the Oval for the decider and do well there too. I will meet the boys a day before the fifth Test.

Pant’s inclusion: Rishabh Pant has impressive reflexes. He has a couple of errors to overcome... he rises too quickly.

A wicket-keeper has to stay as low and get up as late as possible to be able to pull off diving catches on either side.

If he gets up too soon, then it will be difficult to get down. A fraction of a second can lead to a dropped catch.

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