IND vs SL 1st Test: Virat Kohli Would Not Miss A Single Second Of The Match As Long As His Body Allows: R Sridhar

Before the start of the ongoing first Test against Sri Lanka, Team India skipper Virat Kohli had made it clear that he too needs a break from playing non-stop cricket across all formats. Barring the fourth Test against Australia which he missed due to an injury, Kohli has played each game that the team has played this year and is looking set to remain in action for the coming months too.

But while time will tell whether the 29-year old gets the much-deserved break, fielding coach R Sridhar has said the batsman will continue representing the country till his body allows.

“Each member in this team is very proud to represent his country at any given opportunity. Most in the team love to play every match. Knowing Virat, he wears his pride on his sleeve. As long as his body allows he would not miss a single second of the match,” Sridhar told reporters after the second day’s play at the Eden Gardens.

Sridhar’s comments, however, contradicted with the national selectors’ recent decision to rest Hardik Pandya. When asked about that, he said: “The parameters we take into consideration is the workload. The time he spent at the crease, overs, batting…based on that, the team management takes a call on who needs to be rotated.”

The question soon shifted towards the team’s brilliant fielding in recent times. With fitness being made one of the key parameters, Virat Kohli & Co. have transformed themselves into one of the best fielding units in the world. Sridhar, however, said that the team is just following the simple formula of practising hard to get the desired result.

“We are not doing any magic trick. As far as fielding goes, the formula is very simple, the more you practice the better you get. You can see the results because it’s a controllable skill of the game unlike bowling and batting which one cannot control.

“So we work hard on the things we can control and I may sound like a broken record here but the only way to get better is to practice a lot and that’s what this team does,” he said. “The fitter the player, the better the result on the field. You are more agile,” Sridhar added.

Meanwhile, the ongoing game has been marred with rain as only 21 overs of play was possible on the second day before which only 11.5 overs were bowled on the opening day. The rain is caused by a depression that is likely to clear out tomorrow and the fielding coach is confident of getting a result if the teams play for the next three full days.

“This Test can definitely get a result in 270 overs, should we get that. If the weather clears out, it would be really interesting going by the conditions of this Test,” he said.

Sridhar further heaped praise on Cheteshwar Pujara who is holding firm from one end on a difficult track where India were reduced to 50 for 5 before closing the day on 74 for 5 with the Saurashtra star unbeaten on 47. Sridhar said the mantra for Pujara was to narrow down the ‘V’ region which minimised his chances of getting caught.

“The thing that really stood out was most of his drives were to the right of midoff. He had a very narrow V. It was a simple mantra and he was successful. It’s one of the best 47 runs from Pujara in last two-three years,” he said. “He is a batsman who has a grip of every condition when he goes to bat. With moving ball the gameplan was pretty simple — play as close to your body, play straight.”

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