Colin de Grandhomme managed to remove Virat Kohli cheaply in their World Cup warm-up match. Photo / Getty
Colin de Grandhomme managed to remove Virat Kohli cheaply in their World Cup warm-up match. Photo / Getty
By Niall Anderson in Nottingham
They are well aware of the stream of talent that oozes throughout the Indian batting lineup, but at Trent Bridge on Thursday, there will surely be no wicket the Black Caps prize more than that of Virat Kohli.
The Indian captain holds the greatest ODIresume of all time, averaging an absurd 59.5 runs per innings at a strike rate of 92.9 (runs/100 balls faced); a record that jumps against New Zealand to an even more ridiculous 68.5 at 96.4.
He showed he's in good nick with a composed 82 off 77 balls against Australia at The Oval – yes, such an innings gets dampened descriptors when you've scored 41 ODI centuries - but the Black Caps have a few ideas, and a few options, to get him out.
Indeed, they have managed to dismiss him in his last four innings, with specific plans having worked to remove the sublime skipper relatively cheaply.
Virat Kohli can reduce the best bowling attacks to their knees. Photo / Photosport
Scores of 45, 43, 60 and 18 would be perfectly acceptable for any other batsman, but from the perspective of the Black Caps bowlers, those returns would have seemed like winning the battle - or, at least, not losing it.
And, they could have multiple tricks up their sleeve to repeat the dose in Nottingham, with Black Caps bowling coach Shane Jurgensen ready to draw up plans for his crew to perfect.
"I think with him, like with all high-quality players, [the key] is that we've got to put him under pressure. We'll have our options – it might be through certain ways which are unconventional or we might just bowl to the conditions and see if they give us the result that we need," analysed Jurgensen.
"We'll be setting different fields, different line adjustments – just all those little things that we need to do to make sure we can get him out."
Those adjustments – both in line and length – could be the most crucial element of the Black Caps' plan of attack.
In New Zealand this summer, where Kohli played in three of the five ODIs before being rested, the short ball proved a profitable tactic.
The short ball could be a good option to remove Virat Kohli. Photo / Photosport
Lockie Ferguson got a delivery to rise on Kohli in Napier, snaring him caught behind, before Boult repeated the dose in Mount Maunganui, beating Kohli for pace and earning a thick top edge which was caught at fine leg.
In the final ODI, Kohli didn't use his feet to a delivery Boult held back slightly, pushing a shot to extra cover, and in their World Cup warm-up clash last month, he was bowled by Colin de Grandhomme.
His last dismissal aside, the scalps are consistent with what seems to be a trend to follow when seamers bowl to Kohli.
Since 2017, 23 of Kohli's 25 ODI dismissals to seamers have come from deliveries which were missing the stumps. So, while he can punish bowlers if they offer too much width, deliveries in the channel outside off-stump, and with a bit of bounce, look to be the Black Caps' best bet of snaring their man.
The bulk of Virat Kohli's dismissals against seam bowling since 2017 have come off shorter-pitched deliveries missing the stumps. Photo / Supplied
However, to get to Kohli, you still have to crack the opening partnership of Rohit Sharma (averaging 48.2 at 87.8) and Shikhar Dhawan (44.9 at 93.9), and then – if the Kohli plan is fortunate enough to work – KL Rahul, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and Kedhar Jadhav all lie in wait, posing further problems.
That's why Jurgensen is keen to stress the importance of not focusing too much on one individual – as valuable as Kohli's wicket may be.
"India are a team we've played well against and we're very familiar with them, we know what we're going to come up against but we also know how to bowl to them.
"I think the challenge with India is that they have many good batters, and if you focus too much on one, then they've got other guys who can step up.
"It's important we have an overall good bowling performance."
