Virat Kohli demands India fielding improvement in second Test against England
Wednesday 16 November 2016 11:56, UK
India captain Virat Kohli has demanded better catching from his fielders after they let England off the hook on the opening morning of the drawn series opener in Rajkot.
Alastair Cook was dropped twice in the first two overs after the England captain had won the toss and opted to bat in the first Test, while 19-year-old debutant opener Haseeb Hameed also got a reprieve, all three chances going down in the first hour.
Cook and Hameed added 47 for their opening stand to blunt India's new ball attack as England went on to post 537 in the first innings.
Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha then dropped Ben Stokes twice on the second day and the left-handed batsman went on to punish India by scoring 128.
"'Catch the ball' - that's all I can say to sum it up," said Kohli ahead of the second Test which starts in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
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"We have caught really well in the last 12-14 months. In Test cricket if you don't take your chances then the game is very difficult to pull back. I think that was the main difference rather than skill or pitch or toss.
"If you take your chances, you have a team five down for a 100 compared to three down for 250. It's a different ball game altogether."
India will welcome back fit-again opener Lokesh Rahul in the second Test with Gautam Gambhir, who made 29 and zero in Rajkot, set to miss out.
"We had it pretty clear in our heads that KL is our No 1 choice along with [Murali] Vijay," Kohli said of the 24-year-old Rahul, who joined the squad having recovered from a hamstring injury.
"When he is fit at any stage, he comes back into the team and we are going to start with him. That was the whole idea behind it. We were waiting for him to recover as soon as possible.
"In the meantime, Gautam got the chances that he got. He played really well in different situations."
After the draw in Rajkot where India's spinners made little impact, Kohli expressed his displeasure with the pitch which he thought had too much grass.
"Generally in Vizag the pitch has always been something that helps the spinners. I expect the wicket to do the same," the 28-year-old said.
"We played a one-dayer here, the spinners got a few wickets here but at the same time the quick bowlers had a bit of assistance early on.
"It's a wicket where obviously the spinners will find it nice to bowl on."
Amit Mishra looked the least effective of India's spin attack in Rajkot so they may opt to give a debut to either off-spinner Jayant Yadav or, possibly, Karun Nair if they decide they need to lengthen their batting line-up.
India (from): Virat Kohli (capt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Ramit Mishra, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Lokesh Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Murali Vijay
England (from): Alastair Cook (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Zafar Ansari, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Ben Duckett, Steven Finn, Haseeb Hameed, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes
Watch the second Test between India and England live on Sky Sports 2 from 3.30am on Thursday or follow over-by-over commentary, including in-play video clips of all the key moments, on our live blog across selected digital platforms.
