Trent Boult Says He Will Mirror Shaheen Afridi’s Performance Against India, Virat Kohli Responds
Virat Kohli has responded to New Zealand speedster Trent Boult’s recent comment that he would be looking to replicate what Shaheen Afridi did to dismiss the Indian top order – when he bowls against India on Sunday in Dubai.
India and New Zealand clash in a crucial encounter after both had lost their opening matches to Pakistan.
Looking at Shaheen’s success against India, Boult, a left-arm seamer adept at swinging the ball, has expressed his desire to do the same.
Reacting to Boult’s wish, Virat Kohli stated that he and his batters are ready for the challenge and will come prepared to counter-attack.
“We obviously will come up against some quality bowlers around the world in this competition, and hence, the intensity and the level at which this competition operated is very different.
“So, we know that we have played against these individuals for a long period of time; it’s not something out of the ordinary that’s gonna come our way and it all depends on how we take the field mentally and how we counter that,” Virat Kohli said on Saturday.
“If Trent says he wants to replicate what Shaheen did against us, he is motivated to do so and we have to be motivated to counter that and put pressure on him and the other bowlers as well. That’s how basically the game goes, anyway,” he added.
We have played against all these bowlers for a long period of time: Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli highlighted that the Indian batters have played plenty of the Kiwi bowling attack in international cricket and in the IPL.
The 32-year-old asserted that the frame of mind of the batters would be more important than anything, especially after coming from a loss into the game, which many are touting as a must-win encounter.
“We have played against all these bowlers for a long period of time and we understand exactly what we need to do and all that matters now is when we step onto the field, what kind of mental frame we are in – if we are absolutely confident of hitting that ball clearly and not thinking about any other scenario – and I think that’s key to batting in high-pressure situations and that’s something that we are really looking forward to executing as a team,” the Indian skipper concluded.
The boost for Virat Kohli is that Hardik Pandya has passed his fitness test and was also seen bowling in the nets on Wednesday. On the other hand, New Zealand lost the services of speedster Lockie Ferguson to a calf tear before the Pakistan game and are also fretting about the fitness of opener Martin Guptill.