Former England captain Nasser Hussain said India have not been as ruthless with the bat in the absence of star Indian batsman Virat Kohli in the first two Tests at home against England. India drew the five-match series 1-1 with Virat missing the first two Tests due to personal reasons. According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the batsman will also miss the third and fourth Test matches against England in Rajkot and Ranchi. The former India captain is also a doubt for the final match of the series against England in Dharamshala, the report said.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Nasser said that without Virat's aggression and in-your-face attitude, India have suffered in batting.
“He is [Virat Kohli] an aggressive cricketer. He is an in-your-face cricketer but actually, I think, with the bat, India have not been quite ruthless in three of the four innings as they would have liked,” Nasser said.
“It's 1-1 and they batted very well. The likes of KL Rahul batted well, and Shubman Gill and young Jaiswal played brilliantly with his double hundred.”
He also said that the Indian batters will face a lot of soft dismissals in the series, something Virat will not have to face as he is “driven by runs and winning games.”
“There have been some soft dismissals in the Indian batting line-up, and that has made him vulnerable at times. One thing Kohli is with batting is ruthless. He doesn't do soft dismissals. He is driven by getting runs and winning of games. So, They will miss that. Every side would miss the class of Virat Kohli,” he said.
The former England captain was also critical of his side's batting as he pointed out India's problems in converting great starts into big scores. He said reaching the 30s and 40s does not win team Test matches.
“England's problems in the second Test match, apart from (Zak) Crawley, there were a lot of 30s and 40s, and that may look good on the scorecard, but it doesn't win you Test matches, and that was similar with India in Hyderabad.”
“None of their batters went on to get a 100 and a big hundred, and if you look at the second Test, where Jaiswal got the double hundred in the first innings and Shubman Gill got a 100 in the second innings, that's what you win Test Matches.”
“But if you want to do it, you can do it in an attacking way like Jaiswal did, or in a classy way like Shubman Gill did. That's what Dravid would try and end up in that team. “If we play the match going to miss' runs from Kohli, we can't get 60s and 70s, we need big runs.”
“The same applies to England. In Vizag, a lot of batters have come and gone and that is something they need to rectify,” he concluded.
The third Test between the two sides will take place from February 15 in Rajkot.
Topics mentioned in this article