Photo: AAP
NZ vs IND 1st Test: Team India captain Virat Kohli dropped a few hints on the playing combination on Wednesday. He spoke on the chances of Ishant Sharma getting back in the playing XI, and possible opener who would accompany Mayank Agarwal at the top of the batting order.
Ishant Sharma bowled full tilt at the nets and troubled batsmen with his pace and bounce.
“He (Ishant) looked pretty normal and pretty similar to what he was bowling before the ankle injury. He is hitting good areas again and he has played (Test cricket) in New Zealand a couple of times, so his experience will be useful to us. It was really good to see him bowling with pace and in good areas,” Kohli said during his media interaction.
The skipper was all praise for Prithvi Shaw’s to suggest who will start at the top of the order alongside Mayank Agarwal.
“Prithvi is a talented player and he has his own game and we want him to follow his instincts and play the way he does. Look, these guys have no baggage and are not desperate to perform in any manner,” the skipper said.
“They don’t have any nerves to do well overseas. Like a clear head with which Mayank played in Australia, Prithvi can do the same in New Zealand. “A bunch of guys playing with fearlessness, something that can motivate the whole team, gives us start that the team wants and not get intimidated by the opposition in any way,” added Kohli.
“Prithvi, I think you can call him relatively inexperienced and Mayank, I wouldn’t call him that inexperienced because he has scored a lot of runs last year. So he understands what his game is like in Test cricket. I think sometimes in white-ball cricket we try to do too much but once you come into red-ball cricket, you fall into that disciplined mode of batting, which obviously suits him much more at this stage,” said Kohli on Shaw
Saha or Pant?
If Team India’s practice session on Wednesday is taken into account, Wriddhiman Saha is likely to get the gloves ahead of Rishabh Pant.
NZ vs IND 1st Test India’s predicted XI
Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravi Ashwin/Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma