It’s a huge contrast to the scenes usually attached to the build-up for a Test at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium here. Going into the first Test between India and Sri Lanka starting on Friday, the buzz is clearly missing at the stadium which is hosting an international game after three years owing to the pandemic and the protocols. The ticket windows are closed and fans are missing as the match will be played behind closed doors. Even the media personnel are few to cover a game that is Virat Kohli’s 100th Test.
Kohli still is the cynosure of all eyes. As the former skipper emerged from the dressing room to go to the practice nets, teammates Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, Jayant Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin formed a huddle around him. Kohli, rested after playing in the T20 series against West Indies in Kolkata, hit the nets in Mohali on Sunday. He and Pant had been given a 10-day break by BCCI.
A pat on young Gill’s back and some banter with Pant got Kohli going in the nets. Throw downs from the support staff kept Kohli busy in the nets for almost 30 minutes while Ashwin bowled in the other net under the watchful eyes of Sairaj Bahutule, the spin bowling coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
A lot of happened in Kohli’s career in the last six months. He was the ODI, T20 and Test captain till the T20 World Cup in the UAE. Having announced he was stepping down as T20 skipper after the tournament that ended in November, the 33-year-old who has played 99 Tests, 260 ODIs and 97 T20s, was axed as captain of the 50-over game and then stepped down as the Test skipper after the series in South Africa.
{{/usCountry}}A lot of happened in Kohli’s career in the last six months. He was the ODI, T20 and Test captain till the T20 World Cup in the UAE. Having announced he was stepping down as T20 skipper after the tournament that ended in November, the 33-year-old who has played 99 Tests, 260 ODIs and 97 T20s, was axed as captain of the 50-over game and then stepped down as the Test skipper after the series in South Africa.
{{/usCountry}}Kohli, who has not scored an international century for over two years, will be eager to do well in his 100th Test, on a batting wicket expected in Mohali. He is also 38 runs short of the 8,000-run mark.
The PCA has put up hoardings for Kohli’s milestone Test along the approach roads to the stadium though fans will not be able to see the batsman in action.
“It was BCCI’s directive to let the match take place behind closed doors due to the pandemic and also due to the less time at hand. We were to organise a T20 and the second Test earlier, but then the schedule changed,” said Punjab Cricket Association CEO, Deepak Sharma. The other India Test squad members will reach Chandigarh on Monday.