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Cricket Players'Was like gold dust for us': Virat Kohli says Indian bowlers have been batting 'in the nets regularly'
Since 2018, India's last three batsmen have had the worst average of all test-playing nations.
One of India's biggest weaknesses in recent times has been the inability of the lower-order batsmen to contribute to the score. With the fall of the last recognised batsman, it has generally been seen that the tailenders have also been dismissed cheaply. In contrast, Indian bowlers have faced some difficulty in dismissing the lower-order batsmen of the opposing sides. Since 2018, India's last three batsmen have had the worst average of all test-playing nations.
However, it changed in the first Test against England. India's seventh wicket fell on the score of 205 in the first innings. But the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj contributed and took India's total to 278.
A career-best 28 from Bumrah, 13 from Shami, and seven not out by Mohammed Siraj helped the tourists to vital 95-run first innings lead in a low-scoring contest. The match could not produce a result rain as washed out the final day's play on Sunday.
Indian captain Virat Kohli heaped praise on the bowlers and said that a near 50-run haul by India's notoriously brittle batting tail in the first innings against England was like "gold dust".
"They've been in the nets regularly, wanting to contribute regularly, wanting to contribute to the team," Kohli said of the tailenders' batting exploits after the draw.
"Getting 50-plus runs from those three bowlers was like gold dust for us.
"We'd have been talking about a lead of 40-odd and then we got to a lead of 95 purely because of their efforts."
In comparison, England's last three batsmen twice made a combined 20 in the series opener.
"Just the grit and determination," Kohli said. "As opposition, when the bowlers get runs it can be annoying. They did a tremendous job with the bat."
With the tailenders giving a good account of themselves, India will be tempted to continue with the same bowling combination of four seamers and a pacer in the remaining four tests against Joe Root's side.
"This looks like the right template for us moving forward," Kohli said.
The second test is scheduled at Lord's from Thursday.
(with agency inputs)
