England coach says hosts will dominate Virat by putting Indian skipper in pressure
England coach Trevor Bayliss feels the seemingly peerless Virat Kohli can be put under pressure if the home team's bowlers can continue to tame the rest of the Indian line-up in the ongoing Test series.
"If Virat Kohli is not the best batsman (in the world), he's very close to it. The way he played the first and second innings was high-class stuff. If we can put pressure on the other batsmen in the Indian team, that's going to add to the pressure on him," Bayliss told reporters here.
"I don't think it's any different for us. We've got a few guys who are not necessarily cemented in the team and that put extra pressure on people like Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow," said Bayliss.
India lost the first Test here by 31 runs after two successive batting collapses, during which Kohli stood out with his heroics — a hundred in the first innings and a half century in the second essay.
"In this first Test, the four innings had wickets falling left, right and center - all batsmen were in trouble, even Kohli, who I don't think was all that comfortable early on. It was difficult to bat, probably more difficult than it looked from outside," he added.
Bayliss said he expects the Indian team to learn quickly from the mistakes committed while tackling the moving ball just as his team would look to address its weak handling of spin, in the remaining four matches of the series.
"India are a very good team. We're very much in the hunt here. When the ball's moving, we've shown that a few of their guys do struggle against the moving ball. I'm sure that they'll be going away working out how they can play it as we're going working on how to play the off spin," he added.
Talking about Woakes' recall, he said, "Chris was fine here. We had him bowling in the nets. One of first practice days here, he bowled 14 overs in the nets. He's gone back and played a couple of T20 games and back into match mode. Fitness wise he should be fine."
Pope's inclusion means one more left-hander in the English line-up for R Ashwin to bowl against. Bayliss said this factor wasn't and won't be a concern when picking the playing eleven at lord's.
He also agreed with Ashwin's remark that Dukes ball is the best for Test cricket at the moment.
"We're not going to pick a second-best team because they're all right-handers. Certainly, with Ashwin bowling so well to all batsmen but obviously to the left-handers, we'll have to have a bit of a chat and see how we might be able to play him a little different.
"It would be nice (to get Dukes in all Tests). It gets a bit of sideways movement. I'm a fan of Test cricket and you watch these games and some of these lower scores they do, most of the time, give a good Test match for the fans," said Bayliss.
‘no comparison with kapil’
New Delhi: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar on Monday rubbished comparisons between Kapil Dev and Hardik Pandya, saying the legendary all-rounder is a once-in-a century cricketer and cannot be compared to anyone.
Batting great Gavaskar was not at all amused when asked about the tendency among some experts to compare the two.
"Kapil Dev should not be compared with anyone. He is not just a once-in-generation player but a once-in-a century cricketer just like Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar. We should not compare him with anyone," a visibly agitated Gavaskar told 'Aaj Tak'.
Gavaskar is also unhappy with opener Shikhar Dhawan's approach in the longer format.
The Delhi player scored 26 and 13 in the first Test against England at Birmingham.
"Shikhar simply does not want to change his game," the 69-year-old said.
"He believes in playing in the same manner which has brought him success till now. You can still get away with such shots in one-day cricket because there aren't many slips and the push or the edge goes for a boundary through the slip cordon.
"But in Tests, such shots will only result in a fall of wicket. Till a player makes a mental adjustment, he will continue to struggle against the red ball in overseas conditions."