India captain Virat Kohli backs Ajinkya Rahane despite the veteran player’s dry time and absence from a thrilling Second Challenge win over New Zealand on Monday, promises his team will support past performers. Rahane, who led the home side in the Drawn Opening Test and earned points of just 35 and four, missed the final game due to a hamstring injury as Kohli returned from a break to replaced. The 33-year-old has averaged under 20 in 12 games this year and his injury break was hailed by the Indian media as a respectable way to get rid of him in Mumbai.
Kohli told reporters: “I cannot judge his form. No one can judge that. Only individuals know what he is going through.”
“We need to support them in these moments, especially when they’ve played well in the past. We don’t have this environment where our players ask ‘what happens now?’ ‘.”
Kohli said the team was unaffected by outside criticism over individual performances.
“We support everyone on the side, Ajinkya or whoever. We don’t make decisions based on what’s happening outside,” he added.
‘Good year’, ‘good headache’
India won the second test with 372 runs to win the series 1-0 in Mumbai.
Kohli said his team has flown high despite losing to New Zealand in the World Test Championship final in June and failing to reach the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last month.
“A very good year for us, we played cricket very well. There were two defeats in the T20 World Cup and the World Test Championship,” he said.
“The memories in England and in Australia have given us a lot of confidence. See, the Indian team was expected to win but it was not realistic, we knew what we needed to do, improve and aim.”
Athlete Mayank Agarwal was named man of the match in Mumbai for his 150 and 62 in India’s dominant batting program.
The team is currently brimming with young talent including Shreyas Iyer, who shone on his debut in the First Test with 105 and 65 to make it into the long line-up.
Fast pitcher Mohammed Siraj won three trebles in the first innings of the Blackcaps, while skater Jayant Jadav delivered a career-best 4-49.
Coach Rahul Dravid said: “It was a good situation.
Promote
“That’s going to be a big part of my challenge. The challenge is also for the selectors and the leadership team. It’s a headache.”
India will now head to South Africa for three batches of Tests starting December 26, followed by three one-day international visitors on a tour cut short by variant worries New Covid Omicron.
Topics covered in this article
.
