After ODI Shock, Virat Kohli 'Anxious And Desperate' Ahead Of New Zealand Tests
Published - 14 Feb 2020, 10:48 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:03 AM
New Zealand have reportedly India skipper Virat Kohli looking “anxious and desperate” ahead of the crucial two-match Test series, starting on February 21. As per media reports, that is the message coming out of the Indian camp in the wake of the 3-0 defeat in the ODIs.
After winning the T20Is 5-0, India were thrashed by the Black Caps in the three-match ODI series. India’s confident must have taken a blow with the way they lost all the three games. In the series-opener, the Virat Kohli-led side could not defend 347 before it failed to chase down 273. In the third game, the visitors could not defend 296 as New Zealand inflicted a humiliating whitewash on them.
What was more worrying for India during the series was their batting mainstay Virat Kohli’s form. The world number one Test and ODI batsman struggled to get going in the ODIs, scoring just 75 runs in three innings. And Kohli was so shocked with the turn of events that he didn’t even get out of his pads after dismissal in the third ODI. Virat Kohli instead opted for an intense 40 minutes in the nets after a quick discussion with the team-management.
“He’d just played one of the more untoward ODI innings of his career,” Times of India cricket correspondent Bharat Sundaresan wrote before adding that the net session was focused “purely on getting bat to ball”.
“This was Kohli showing that even the best in the world can get anxious, if not desperate, for achieving the level of success that they’re used to, even if it doesn’t come their way for a very brief period of time.
“That even they can get too ahead of themselves and in a way end up taking the basics of what made them that successful for granted – which in his case was waiting for the ball to come to him rather than go chasing after it.
“And Kohli’s mid-match stint in the nets was all about refocusing his mind towards what has always worked for him,” he added after Kohli’s unusual innings at the Bay Oval where he was out while chasing a wide delivery.
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