English assistant coach Paul Farbrace has impressed with the Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s batting performances and has advised his team to learn from the Indian skipper.
In the ongoing third Test between the hosts England and the visitors India at Trent Bridge (Nottingham), Kohli has scored 97 and 103 runs that lead a good comeback platform for the visitors who are trailing the series by 2-0. While England were bundled out for just 161 runs in their first innings, they will now have to chase the record target 521 runs to win the game.
At the end of the day three, Farbrace said, “I’m a big believer in players learning from players, and I think ours will be watching the way Kohli lets the ball come, and almost takes third and fourth slip out of the game.
“You’re looking for the best players to learn from the best players, and try to adapt their game to suit – and I think there’s no better exponent of that at the moment than him.
“Having had such a poor performance yesterday, you would expect your batsmen to show some gumption and some guts and get stuck in tomorrow and show that they are the best players.”
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Indian skipper Kohli has already scored two centuries in the ongoing Test series and he is currently the most runs scorer in this Test series. Playing six innings in this Test series, Kohli has scored 440 runs with the average of 73.33.
Farbrace has praised Kohli as he feels the Indian skipper is currently the best player in the world.
The English assistant coach said, “You would be hard-pressed to argue against him (Kohli) being seen as the best player in the world at the moment. The way he’s developed, played through this series, has been absolutely fantastic. I like the way he plays the game – it’s fantastic to see.
“He’s a high-quality player, and has shown he’s learned a lot on this tour alone. The way he’s tinkered, practised and obviously worked at his game – fantastic – and he thoroughly deserves the runs he’s scored. Our bowlers might argue that we’ve perhaps given him a few too many chances – but the bloke has shown that he is high-quality.”
While Farbrace has impressed with the English experienced pacer James Anderson’s bowling, he also wishes to watch some batting improvement in England’s second innings of this ongoing Trent Bridge Test.
Farbrace said, “I thought Jimmy Anderson showed why he is the best seam bowler in world cricket. On the first day he didn’t quite get it right, but today he got it spot on and bowled really well.
“He kept challenging the stumps and the outside edge. You’re looking for (Alastair) Cook, (Joe) Root and (Ben) Stokes to get stuck in and show they are top quality players.”
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England have now dropped six catches in this Test and 15 catches in this series. Farbrace has remarked it as ‘soul-destroying’.
The 51-year-old said, “We’ve said that we practise hard. Our fielding coach works exceptionally hard over the two practice days. We think we’ve got some good catchers, but you can’t keep shelling chances the way we are.
“That comes down to two things – concentration not being good enough, or confidence. When you start to miss chances that stars to eat away at you.
“Our bowlers stuck at the job really well. 70 runs scored in the first session, and we keep plugging away. When bowlers are creating opportunities and catches are being dropped, that can be soul-destroying. Nobody means to drop a catch, but we are shelling too many.”
On the day three, Jonny Bairstow got a finger injury behind the stumps as he suffered a fracture on his left middle finger. While Farbrace feels Bairstow can bat in the second innings of this Test, if needed, he is unsure on Bairstow’s actual condition.
Farbrace said, “There is a fracture in the tip of his finger, and the doctor’s been working on him this evening to relieve a bit of pressure in the nail, so hopefully when needed he’ll be okay. A lot will depend on how the next few days go, and the soreness in terms of catching balls on a consistent basis. We’ll have to see how he goes.
“I’m no expert on broken fingers, but because it’s not a displaced break, then he should be okay, and it’s just a case of managing the pain level as opposed to doing any further damage.
“There’ll be a big bit of plastic stuck over his glove. Let’s see how he goes over the next couple of days. If there is a risk of making it worse, he wouldn’t bat.”
