After a glorious win in Australia, Indian fans were looking for yet another domination from their side against England in their own soil. However, the ‘Men in Blue’ displayed a completely antithetical performance of what was expected of them. The Virat Kohli-led side allowed the visitors to walk over them completely. England went on to win the first Test 227 runs as they took a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series.
ENG vs IND: Ashish Nehra backs Virat Kohli
Former Indian pace bowler Ashish Nehra believes that Virat Kohli is going to make a strong comeback in the second Test against England. Virat Kohli has, now, lost four consecutive Test games as India’s captain. India lost their first Test match in four years in their own soil. The internet wasted no time to blame India’s failure on Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli failed to thrive with his bat in the first innings but later played a decent knock of 72 runs in the second. Nevertheless, Virat Kohli couldn’t stay in the crease for long as the English bowlers completely walked over the Indian batsmen. However, Ashish Nehra is confident that Virat Kohli is set to make a firm recovery in the second Test at Chennai.
“You are talking about one or two centuries, I would say when India wins the toss, he will score 250 also. This is the special thing about Virat Kohli. When Ashwin got out, he knew that they would lose the match but he did not play any airy-fairy shots.” “He takes pride in scoring his own runs, that he should not get out. Anyone would have got out to the ball he was dismissed, it kept extremely low,” Ashish Nehra said on Star Sports.
Ashish Nehra also applauded Kohli’s strong mindset which he displayed in the second innings. “He kept at it which you need to do on the fourth and fifth days on a subcontinent pitch. The desire makes this player different from others and it is not only here when he couldn’t score runs in England, very few people would have seen Virat Kohli lunging forward to play the defensive shots. To do that, you need fitness,” added Nehra.
