Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
New Zealand pacer Trent Boult on Sunday said it felt “nice” to see Virat Kohli making some mistakes after the Kiwis had reduced India to 90/6 in at the stumps of second day’s play in the first Test at Christchurch on Sunday.
India go to stumps at 90/6, with Trent Boult doing the majority of the damage with three wickets.
After a 16-wicket day, New Zealand are in the driver’s seat!#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/yj0FzSot0r
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“Obviously, he is a big player for them and we just tried to put enough pressure on him, keep him quiet and soak up those boundary balls, and it was nice to see him make a few errors. We were lucky to get two that lined up and hit him on the pads nicely and it was a good feeling to see the back of him,” Boult was quoted as saying by PTI.
New Zealand have India at their mercy after the touring bowlers wreaked havoc. The Indian attack was at its lethal best with Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah putting on a fine show. The duo shared seven Kiwi wickets among each other with Shami returning with the figures of 4/81 and Bumrah getting 3/62 to hand India a slender lead of 7 runs.
But the batsmen failed once again as they failed to capitalise on the momentum gained by the bowlers. Talking about their woes, Boult seemed sympathetic and said their habits of playing on “slow pitches” are making their lives difficult.
“Probably, they are used to playing on low and slow pitches in India and it took time for them to get adjusted. Just like if I bowl in India, it will be foreign conditions for me,” the 30-year-old fast bowler said.
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