On a day India regained the No. 1 Test ranking, captain Virat Kohli has hailed the younger crop of the group for delivering the goods under pressure.
“To play Test cricket you need passion and intent. Indian cricket is in safe hands when you have so many people who have that. People are hungry to play Tests well. It’s nice to see youngsters want to feel what it is to play Tests,” Kohli said on Monday after India mauled New Zealand by 372 runs to win the two-Test series 1-0.
Toughest format
“That’s how they understand why it’s called the toughest format, most respectful format. They want to do well in India and outside. That attitude is what is going to help us do better going ahead.”
The series saw Shreyas Iyer score a hundred and a fifty on debut in Kanpur, Mayank Agarwal repeat the same feat at Wankhede Stadium, Axar Patel ensuring India didn’t miss Ravindra Jadeja at all and Mohammed Siraj make a strong case to be preferred over Ishant Sharma in Tests.
Despite the positive, Ajinkya Rahane’s form continues to be a concern with the vice-captain having averaged just 26 since the start of 2020. But Kohli continued to support his deputy, although Rahane didn’t feature in the second Test owing to a mysterious hamstring injury.
“I can’t judge his form. No one can judge it. Only the individual knows what he is going through. We need to back them in these moments, especially when they have done well in the past,” Kohli said.
