Ahead of the start of day 2 of the ongoing 1st Test against England, Virat Kohli on Saturday decided to get his team in a huddle and he gave a pep talk to rally his troops.
The Indian team chased the leather on day one as Joe Root and Dominic Sibley frustrated the hosts on day one of the ongoing first Test here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here in Chennai. BCCI’s official Twitter handle shared a video on Saturday in which Kohli can be seen giving a pep talk and the board captioned the post as: “Rise and shine. We are building up to DAY 2 here at Chepauk.”
Root, playing his 100th Test on Friday, hit an unbeaten 128 runs off 197 balls. It was also Root’s third consecutive hundred in the longest format of the game. The England skipper had hit 228 and 186 runs against Sri Lanka in January.
Jasprit Bumrah, who picked two wickets on day one, also said that he noticed how well Root was playing the spinners. The India pace spearhead asserted the hosts will not just be focusing on the England skipper when the two sides take the field on Saturday as all remaining seven wickets are equally important.
“Every wicket is equally important for us. All wickets are equally important not focusing on one particular individual (Root). We picked up three wickets today and our goal will be to pick seven wickets and we are focusing on that.
Not a particular individual, there are many good players in their team and we give everyone equal respect,” Bumrah said replying to a query from ANI after the close of play on day one.
Root and Dom Sibley put England in control in the first Test, forming a stunning 200-run partnership on an opening day. At stumps, England’s score read 263/3 with Root playing on 128 runs. However, India ended the day on a high as Bumrah dismissed Sibley (87) in the 90th over.
