India Vs. New Zealand 2nd Test to be played at Wankhede
After all the win-win situations from the 1st Test in Kanpur, India is going to play its 2nd Test against NZ at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai on 3rd December, Friday.
Kohli’s confirmed to be returning to the squad after taking a rest. Virat has left captaincy from all forms of cricket but due to the tight schedule of the Indian cricket squad for 6 months, Kohli was given rest by the BCCI due to which he didn’t play the T20I and 1st Test match against the Kiwis.
Kohli in the conference has mentioned that he enjoys playing at Wankhede and last time in 2016 when he did play he smashed mind-blowing 235* runs against England. Virat Kohli said:
“I have always enjoyed playing at the Wankhede. That’s a ground where I have always had happy memories.
After which he stated that it’s all about the impact of the innings he’s left there. He added :
“More than that, it’s the impact you leave with the kind of innings you play that matters to me more. That has been my focus in the past. That’s precisely my focus – every time I take the field I want to give my best, I want to try and do the best possible thing for the team in that situation. Not all the time will you have phases where you bat the same way. You have to understand and accept that in a long career span. So it’s all about putting in the hard yards.”
Even though Kohli was on rest period he was spotted practicing in the CCI to prepare for the 2nd Test, over which Kohli explained:
“It was just to stay in the rhythm of playing red-ball cricket. The idea was to get repetition and volume, which is important in Test cricket. It’s just to get into the mold of switching between formats and something I have always tried to do whenever I get the opportunity. It’s more so mentally than doing anything technique-wise.”
As it was announced earlier by the BCCI and the head coach Rahul Dravid that players who were given rest will be replacing their replacements anytime they return. According to reports Virat is going to replace Mayank Agarwal in the 11-men squad of the Indian cricket team.
India and New Zealand will lock their horns on December 3rd with the 1st Test series ending at 0-0 due to New Zie’s draw by the end in Kanpur.
