Ravi Shastri urged Team India to emulate Virat Kohli's aggression on Day 5 of the Headingley Test against England. India set a target of 371 after strong performances from Rahul and Pant, but England's openers showed resistance.
Former India captain and head coach Ravi Shastri wanted Team India to channel Virat Kohli-like fire and aggression on Day 5 of the first Test against England at Headingley in Leeds on Tuesday, June 24.
The Test series opener entered into the fifth and final day, with England chasing down the 371-run target set by Team India. India were bundled out for 364 in the second innings, riding on the batting brilliance by KL Rahul (137) and Rishabh Pant (118) before the lower order collapsed from 333/5, losing the remaining five wickets in just 31 runs.
The visitors capitalized on the 6-run first-innings lead to set a formidable target for the hosts to chase in the first Test of the five-match series.
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Ravi Shastri wants someone to channel Virat Kohli
In the ongoing Test series against England, Team India is missing the presence of Virat Kohli, who retired from the longest format of the game before the UK tour. The current players in the Indian team lack aggression and fire like Virat Kohli, who used to get in the heat of the opposition batters.
Speaking on air during the commentary, Ravi Shastri wanted an Indian player to channel Virat Kohli in order to stop England batters dominating the proceedings in their run chase.
“India needs someone to do a Kohli job, someone who can be right at the face of the opposition. Someone has to be designated or given that role.” Shastri said.
“There's not a single guy who can do it at the moment, Kohli could do it for three people. Hence, two people could be designated to do that job against England," he added.
Ravi Shastri’s comment is a subtle reference to Virat Kohli’s famous Lord’s speech in 2021, where the former Indian skipper fired up with his passionate on-field outburst, ‘Let's give them 60 overs of hell’, urging them to go hard against England batters.
England needed 272 overs in 60 overs to win the Lord’s Test, but the passionate speech by Kohli ignited the fire in Team India bowlers, as they bundled out the hosts for 121 runs to secure a 151-run win.
England openers show resistance against India bowlers
England resumed their run chase at 21/0 in six overs, with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley batting on 12 and 9, and needed 350 runs to win the match. The openers kept their composure and patience early on the final day against India's bowling attack.
After a moderate performance with the ball in the first innings, except for Jasprit Bumrah, Indian bowlers are struggling to pick a wicket to put pressure on the hosts in their massive run chase. At the end of the morning session, England posted a total of 117/0 in 30 overs, with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley batting on 64 and 42, and needed 254 to win.
Indian bowlers displayed a lacklustre performance in the first session as none of them could take wickets. Pace spearhead Bumrah conceded 21 runs in his spell of nine overs, while Mohammed Siraj registered figures of 0/23 in 8 overs. Prasidh Krishna was not quite impressive, mirroring a similar performance from the first innings, as he conceded 38 runs in six overs.
Team India needs to break the opening partnership in the second session and inject urgency in their bowling attack to gain control of the match.
