Reluctance of Kohli to bowl Kedar. As Kedar is selected as one of the all rounders, We expect him to be given a few overs. Kedar is very crafty bowler and could have managed to break a partnerships or two. He also bowls economically increasing pressure in chase. But, astonishingly Kohli has steadfastly avoided bowling him whenever he has selected him in playing eleven. If Kedar is not bowing wouldn’t it be better to get in a specialist batsmen or an all-rounder whom Kohli will the ball to a bit more regularly?
Non Selection of K L Rahul in Test Team. I don’t think Shaw or Gill are a bad choice at all, In fact Shaw has right to his place in Team coming back after Injury. But, Rahul is in form of his life and I think he deserved a place.
Disappointed. KLR is doing so good in ODI and T20I. He got 50+ avg in last 13 matches in ODI. His tremendous confidence was a perfect reason to include in the test squad.
If we look from BCCI perspective, playing devil’s advocate, it could be that the selection team want to give few more chances to Pant to prove his place in the team.
Performance of Shaw, Gill, Mayank Agarwal and rest of the team will be closely watched as the T20 World Cup nears. Having a broader set of top performing players to select from is always a good situation to be in.
You are same guys who wants KL Rahul out of test squad few moths ago… and now he scored runs in last few games and suddenly you wants him in test squad. When he won’t score runs in test, then you want him out as well… make up your mind… test match is different than ODI and T20
India lose the 2nd ODI match too with New Zealand claiming the series 2-0.
What do you think happened in ODI matches that jinxed our fantastic run so far? Any shortcomings in Indian team or were the Kiwis better team this series?
India vs New Zealand, 1st Test: India lost first test by 10 wickets.
NZ tour : Kohli’s sequence of scores read 45, 11, 38, 11 (T20s); 51, 15, 9 (ODIs) and 2 and 19 (1st Test).
Kohli to reporters assessing his own batting performance :
“I am absolutely fine. I am batting really well. I feel that sometimes scores don’t reflect the way you are batting and that’s what can happen when you don’t execute what you want to well” .
NZ has always been tricky not only for India but all other visitors as well. NZ has typical weather & grounds which visitors take their time to master.
But, that takes nothing away from current NZ team. They are a strong unit especially at home. Current NZ bowling unit is formidable at Home.
Toss has again eluded Kohli. Put in First India was bundled out for 242. Shaw put on an assault up front but perished after a brave fifty. A collapse followed which was stalled by persistence of Pujara & Vihari. Again a collapse followed after departure of the duo ending India’s innings at 242.
NZ is tricky. Only option you have is belligerence of Sehwag/Shaw if you are not a doggedly relentless like Pujara/Dravid/Vihari. Nothing works in between it seems. You consume 30-40 balls, scores 20-30 runs and perish. And in terms of runs made both options work out equally. The later only achieves to eat up a substantial amount of Balls.
Today, Kohli was dismissed for just 3 runs. He may end the Kiwi tour with lesser runs under his belt than the 2014 tour of England which is considered as one of the worst of his career.
In 2014 tour of England Kohli had aggregated 254 runs across formats. So far in this tour he has scored 204 runs and has one more innings to go.
India revived their hopes on day 2 with some good bowling but again squandered the edge with a collapse. The old nemesis of Ind of opponents tail wagging to sting also came back to haunt them once again.
All in all it was Bowlers day with NZ now firmly in control.
India’s batting let them down. India’s average runs per wicket in this series was their third worst in any Test series. Incidentally, the two series in which they were worse also came against New Zealand: 13.37 in New Zealand in 2002-03, and 16.61 when New Zealand toured India in 1969-70.
Also the old nemesis of opponents tail punching above their weight continues to badger them. NZ 8 to 10 wicket avg partnership was 34, India’s was meager 10.33.
Virat too had a lean series and couldn’t pull his weight. Kohli’s average in this series 9.5 - with scores of 2, 19, 3 and 14 is his second-worst in any series. His only worse series was the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home in 2016-17, when he averaged 9.20 with 46 runs in five innings.
