Shaun Pollock rates Virat Kohli's knock special despite India's defeat

The Indian team lost the 1st Test against England at Edgbaston and it was a collective batting failure than let them down. Only one man Virat Kohli stood up to the task in both the innings and the rest of the batters just didn’t arrive. The fact that he scored 200 runs while the other ten contributed 214 in the two innings of the Test is enough to prove the point. However, former South African captain Shaun Pollock has backed the Indians to come good.

Pollock stated that playing in those conditions coming out of the subcontinent is really difficult. The batsmen need some time to adjust and he equated it with how teams like England and South Africa fair when they travel to the subcontinent. Having grown up in different conditions it takes some time to get used to it and the Indian team should give them more opportunities.

“I think always going to be a challenge for Indian batsmen to play outside the sub-continental conditions. It is something which happens with England and South African batsmen too when they come here(India),” Pollock was quoted as saying by Mail Today.

“Technically, we don’t grow up on it so we eventually struggle against spinners. And it takes some adjustment for players to get used to the conditions. So they should be given a few more opportunities,” he added.

Competitive Indian bowling attack

With the way, the Indian bowlers performed both on the tour of South Africa and in the first Test against England it is evident that they have the ability to take 20 wickets. Pollock thus thinks that it is a matter of time and as three or four of their batsmen deliver, the team will be in a position to win matches.

“India has a very competitive bowling attack. They have a lot of spin and fast bowling options so all India needs is three or four of the batsmen to perform to have a strong chance of winning it,” Pollock added.

Impressed by Kohli’s knock

Coming into the tour, Kohli had just 134 runs to his name in five Tests. He changed all of it in just one match. The Indian skipper registered a hundred in the first innings and converted his knock into a big one scoring 149, in the second innings again he scored 51.

He was constantly challenged from the time he walked out Joe Root deployed James Anderson in the attack who didn’t let him off the hook and even induced edges on occasions. He fought all of that and kept going to produce one of his best batting performances.

“It was an impressive knock by Kohli. He played some great shots in those challenging conditions. Kohli fought hard against Jimmy Anderson and it is something you have to do in cricket sometimes, you have to fight through the hard period and once you do that, things become a bit easier,” said Pollock who also enjoyed the Indian captain’s batting.

“His performance was particularly special after how people have been talking about his failure in England last time around and also during the one-dayers. It shows how he was keen to prove a point,” he concluded.

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