Ipl 2018 letest updates

New Delhi: Former India captain Kapil Dev has backed Virat Kohli-led team to come out strongly in the second Test match starting in Christchurch on Saturday. India lost the series-opener in Wellington’s Basin Reserve by ten wickets in just over three days and are now staring at a potential series defeat.

Kapil Dev said people should not be worried over the form of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. Image courtesy: HCL Grant

The Kiwis executed their short-ball strategy to perfection in the first Test, and the inclusion of Neil Wagner in the squad suggests Kane Williamson would like to continue with that line of attack. Despite his lack of express pace, Wagner has troubled batsmen — most famously and recently, Australia’s run machine Steve Smith — with his lengths and angles, and is an expert exponent of the short ball. Pacers Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and debutante Kyle Jamieson accounted for 19 of the 20 Indian wickets in the first Test — Rishabh Pant’s run-out being the sole aberration.

“Honestly, I don’t know the gameplan they should adopt to counter the short-ball strategy,” Kapil, India’s first World Cup-winning skipper, said on the sidelines of an HCL Grant event in Noida. “But we have won on bouncy wickets before, be it Perth, Melbourne or Durban. We have done it before, so I am not concerned if they target us with the short-pitch ball. They are one-up in the series, so just come back hard.”

India started the New Zealand tour with a 5-0 clean sweep in the T20I series, but were blanked 0-3 in the ODI series that followed. Considering the team played the first T20I on 24 January and the first Test started almost a month later (21 February), many expected India to come into the series suitably attuned to conditions. The team, however, was found wanting on every count, continuing with their unwanted tradition of losing the first Test of an away series.

“I felt bad when we lost the first Test because we had already played a T20I series and an ODI series (in New Zealand). Had the tour started with Test matches and we would have lost the first one, I could have understood. But I’d only say that all credit must go to the Kiwis,” Kapil said.

India’s vaunted batting line-up failed to fire in both innings of the first Test, getting dismissed for 165 and 191 runs respectively. While the majority of India’s top-seven got starts, none could post a substantial total, resulting in below-par scores.

“They lost because they were under-prepared; there’s nothing to talk about. Had they worked hard on that (playing short-pitch bowling), they wouldn’t have lost the Test match. They are professionals, they understand their game, and I think they’ll come back harder. If not, you have to give all the praise to the Kiwis.

“New Zealand bowled much better than our boys. Our boys’ lines and lengths were not right. New Zealand used the conditions well,” Kapil said.

Among the visitors’ biggest worries will be lack of runs from skipper Virat Kohli. A prolific scorer across formats, Kohli has uncharacteristically failed to fire on the tour so far.

In the ODI series preceding the Tests, Kohli returned with scores of 51, 15, and 9 runs and struggled to find his signature fluency. He got starts in the four T20I matches he played at the start of the tour, but failed to go on.

Then, after conceding the ODI series in Auckland, Kohli had said that ODI matches were not as important this year, with T20 World Cup slated in October and the ongoing World Test Championships.

Asked to comment on that line of thought, Kapil said the team should have accepted the loss and not “looked for excuses.”

“I think the team management should not have looked for excuses. You didn’t play well, that’s the reason you lost. As a cricket lover, to me, every match is important. What management said is up to them, but as a former cricketer, I’d say every Test match, ODI, and T20I is important. If you say it is not important, then we should never talk about statistics. Why talk about statistics if they don’t matter? I think winning is the most important thing. If you have not played well, just accept it and give due credit to the opponents,” he said.

The veteran of 131 Tests and 225 ODIs, however, threw his weight behind the Indian captain's ability with the bat. “We shouldn’t be worrying about Virat’s form. He is a great player and great players come back stronger. He is one of the all-time greats of the game and I am sure he will bounce back. I have no doubts he will come back with the ability and talent that he has. He has lots and lots of cricket left in him.”

Apart from Kohli, pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s slump in form proved detrimental to India in the ODI series and the first Test. The 26-year-old, coming back from an injury layoff, failed to pick up a single wicket in the five ODIs and managed just one scalp in the Wellington Test.

Kapil, who once held the world record for most Test wickets (434), said there’s no need to worry over Bumrah’s form, and the pacer needs just one good spell to get back to wicket-taking ways.

“There is no need to worry about Bumrah’s lack of wickets. He is a very fine bowler and he has proved it before. A person who has played at that level and proved himself doesn’t take very long to come back to form.

“As batsmen, you need one innings to get back in form. Likewise, bowlers need just one good spell to find their rhythm. All you need is few wickets in one spell, and you are back. Champion players have it in them to come back faster.”

As of now, Ishant Sharma, India's lone bright spot in the Wellington Test — he returned a five-wicket haul — has been ruled out from the second match owing to recurrence of his ankle injury. Ishant had injured his ankle during a Ranji Trophy match and had undergone rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. His breakdown, after just one match on return, raises questions over India's injury management that had, in recent past, come under the scanner over handling of injury-prone Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.

Young Prithvi Shaw, also on the comeback trail, missed a training session due to swelling on his left foot on Thursday, but coach Ravi Shastri has declared the opener fit for the second Test. With injury scares piling on, the issue of burnout and scheduling assumes great importance, something Kohli had alluded to at the start of the tour.

Kapil, one of the fittest cricketers of his generation, said the players should be ready to skip the Indian Premier League (IPL) to prevent themselves from burnouts.

“If they think there’s a threat to burnout, don’t play IPL. It’s not as if you’re representing your country in IPL. I don’t want to know how much (money) they are making or not making, but your feelings for your country should be different from what you feel for your club. If you feel more strongly for your club than your country, I don’t know how to react to that,” he said.

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