Sweeping his way to success
Chennai: Dec 22, 2016, DHNS
It won’t be stretching the limits to say that Virat Kohli is a big fan of Karun Nair.
Nair, who is essentially a middle-order batsman, was the back-up for the injured opener M Vijay for the final Test in Sri Lanka last year. He was summoned again to join the team in Indore for the third Test against New Zealand after another opener Shikhar Dhawan got injured. The just-concluded England series was the first time that Nair had found a place in the squad at the start of the series.
After two aborted starts in as many innings, Nair showed why the team management rates him so highly. An unbeaten 303 in only his third innings underlined Nair’s attitude and approach to his game, his hunger for runs and the importance he attaches to fitness.
Kohli called him a complete package that is difficult to find. “I haven’t seen him play too much first-class cricket,” Kohli said of his young team-mate. “I’ve seen him play in the IPL against world-class bowlers and he’s someone who’s always showed character. He could pull the ball well. He used his feet, drove the ball well at No. 3 when the ball is swinging. Spinners, he’s very lethal. I’ve not seen anyone currently in India sweep so well against spinners. He’s just the complete package. It’s difficult to find guys like that, who have such characteristics when they are batting and understand their game so well at such a young age. It’s important to back guys like Karun,” he remarked.
Further heaping praise on the Karnataka batsman, Kohli said: “We’ve always believed he was always our No. 1 choice as a middle-order back-up. Credit to him that when the chance came… Just the third innings and he’s done wonders to the team and wonders for himself as well. I congratulate him. He’s delivered what we expected him to. He exceeded our expectations and everyone’s expectations. As I said, that shows his character, at such a young age to understand his game fully, hats off to him.”
Citing the example of Nair and KL Rahul, Kohli said that’s the standard he expects of players in the team. “Whoever comes into the team he knows there is a certain benchmark for fitness in the team,” he began. “Of performance. Of mindset. We want players to be match-ready when they join the Indian team. You shouldn’t be spending a year in international cricket just learning what to do now. You lose a lot of time in that. And many players can’t face that pressure. But if you are prepared, if you are professional, if you know you have to work hard, if you know how to prepare for a game, you have a better chance of performing. Like KL Rahul. Like Karun Nair.
Especially for Karun, replacing a batsman like Ajinkya (Rahane) who has been performing consistently in the last two years in Test cricket, to walk in and score a triple-hundred. There couldn’t have been a bigger statement,” he observed.
DH News Service
Nair, who is essentially a middle-order batsman, was the back-up for the injured opener M Vijay for the final Test in Sri Lanka last year. He was summoned again to join the team in Indore for the third Test against New Zealand after another opener Shikhar Dhawan got injured. The just-concluded England series was the first time that Nair had found a place in the squad at the start of the series.
After two aborted starts in as many innings, Nair showed why the team management rates him so highly. An unbeaten 303 in only his third innings underlined Nair’s attitude and approach to his game, his hunger for runs and the importance he attaches to fitness.
Kohli called him a complete package that is difficult to find. “I haven’t seen him play too much first-class cricket,” Kohli said of his young team-mate. “I’ve seen him play in the IPL against world-class bowlers and he’s someone who’s always showed character. He could pull the ball well. He used his feet, drove the ball well at No. 3 when the ball is swinging. Spinners, he’s very lethal. I’ve not seen anyone currently in India sweep so well against spinners. He’s just the complete package. It’s difficult to find guys like that, who have such characteristics when they are batting and understand their game so well at such a young age. It’s important to back guys like Karun,” he remarked.
Further heaping praise on the Karnataka batsman, Kohli said: “We’ve always believed he was always our No. 1 choice as a middle-order back-up. Credit to him that when the chance came… Just the third innings and he’s done wonders to the team and wonders for himself as well. I congratulate him. He’s delivered what we expected him to. He exceeded our expectations and everyone’s expectations. As I said, that shows his character, at such a young age to understand his game fully, hats off to him.”
Citing the example of Nair and KL Rahul, Kohli said that’s the standard he expects of players in the team. “Whoever comes into the team he knows there is a certain benchmark for fitness in the team,” he began. “Of performance. Of mindset. We want players to be match-ready when they join the Indian team. You shouldn’t be spending a year in international cricket just learning what to do now. You lose a lot of time in that. And many players can’t face that pressure. But if you are prepared, if you are professional, if you know you have to work hard, if you know how to prepare for a game, you have a better chance of performing. Like KL Rahul. Like Karun Nair.
Especially for Karun, replacing a batsman like Ajinkya (Rahane) who has been performing consistently in the last two years in Test cricket, to walk in and score a triple-hundred. There couldn’t have been a bigger statement,” he observed.
DH News Service
No comments:
Post a Comment