Catches win matches, Kohli reminds India’s fielders

But when the two sides meet for the second Test in Vizag, expect Virat Kohli-led India to come all guns blazing. Despite winning the honours in the first Test in Rajkot, England could have serious issues playing here in the next five days.

Indian captain Virat Kohli who had criticised the presence of grass on the Rajkot wicket, is expecting turn in Visakhapatnam, which is set to host its first Test ever.

He said: “This team really prides itself on its fielding and catching”. “That’s the decision we’ve got to make over the next 12 hours or so”.

India are unbeaten at home in their last 15 Tests, and their batsmen will be key in setting the tone of the game.

“We took the opportunity and that’s why you saw Ashwin and Jadeja applying themselves really well”. Vishakhapatnam might be a different track altogether and that can be a huge factor because Rajkot wasn’t a rank turner by any means and maybe that’s what played a crucial role in the game shaping the way it did.

With these factors in mind, there could be pressure situations that the Indian team will have to tackle like when they had to bat and save the first Test.

“Catch the ball – that’s all I can say to sum it up”, Kohli said. Yes, you get a little advantage initially if you win the toss but it’s not that you will be put on the back-foot and will be a disadvantage (if you lose the toss).

In his absence, and with Shikhar Dhawan also out with a fractured finger, Gautam Gambhir made his comeback to global cricket in the third Test of that series in Indore. Indian team selectors have chosen to pick Rahul as he has completely recuperated from the hamstring injury. He has recovered now and as per the protocol, we wanted him to go and play a first-class match and I think today he got a hundred. “That was the whole idea behind it”. We are looking at going into the game with the best possible eleven and Rahul is one of our key players.

“In the mean time, Gautam (Gambhir) got the chances that he got, and he played really well in hard situations, but that’s how the team combinations go”, said Kohli. “But that’s how team combinations go”. “Pulling Rahul out of a first-class game within the rules and we didn’t had to think differently”, he said.

India’s spinners struggled on a flat, grassy pitch in Rajkot but the surface in Visakhapatnam is expected to offer them more assistance.

“Generally in Vizag, pitch has always been something that helps the spinners”.

Since the India-New Zealand ODI last month, when the visitors were bundled out for 79, the pitch had a roller-coster ride to its big day.