Dismissing a ‘world-class’ player like Virat Kohli early on in the innings was nice, says England leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who prized out the Indian skipper in the first T20I for a 5-ball duck at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Kohli, who had faced 4 dot balls from Jofra Archer in the previous over, decided to swat Adil Rashid over the mid-off fielder by making room for himself. But Rashid, who was given the new ball and was bowling his second over in the powerplay, used his immense experience and followed Kohli to cramp him for extra room as the batsman could just chip it to Chris Jordan at mid-off to register another duck – his third against England on this recent tour.
While Adil Rashid is absolutely delighted to bag the wicket of the Indian skipper, however, he also admits that it’s the ‘part and parcel of the game’, and on another day Kohli could have smacked him for runs.
“Yes, it always nice to get a world-class player like him (Kohli) out but somedays you get hit for fours or sixes, and somedays batsmen get out early, that’s part and parcel of the game. Obviously, it is nice to get some world-class players out,” said Adil Rashid in a virtual press conference.
Getting big players out early in the innings keeps the crowd quiet – Adil Rashid
Because of the huge overall capacity – more than 1,30,000 – of the Narendra Modi Stadium, and despite only 50 per cent of spectators being allowed, it still filled about 67,200 fans in the stands. Hence, it became difficult for Adil Rashid and England players to communicate with each other while fielding.
However, the leg-spinner mentions that with the early blows England bowlers handed India, the crowd went quiet which helped the fielders hear each other better.
“I actually can’t remember what it sounded like but I know what the crowd sounded like before, it was very, very loud. The Indian crowd is very passionate, obviously, it’s nice to get big players out early in the innings, it keeps the crowd quiet, so it was nice to get him (Kohli) early.
“If you get a wicket early in the innings or if you are batting and you hit a few sixes or fours, crowd go quiet. You can actually hear your teammates which is not possible when the crowd is cheering, especially when India is going well,” the 33-year-old leg-spinner further added.
