Former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra has backed Virat Kohli to score 250 runs if he can manage to win the toss and bat first in the next Test match against England which will be played in Chennai from February 13.
Kohli scored 11 and 72 runs in the first Test at Chepauk in a losing cause as England beat India by 227 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series on Tuesday.
Even though he didn’t give any excuses for the defeat, Kohli did say that the toss turned out to be an important factor in the match as England made good use of the batting-friendly conditions on the first-two days when the pitch didn’t offer much assistance to the bowlers.
Joe Root scored 218 while Dom Sibley (87) and Ben Stokes (87) also made useful contributions as England piled on the misery on the Indian bowlers by scoring 578 runs in their first innings.
On the other hand, there was considerable turn and movement in the air when India came to bat in their first innings in which they got bowled out for 337.
“You are talking about one or two centuries, I would say when India wins the toss, he will score 250 also.
“This is the special thing about Virat Kohli. When Ashwin got out, he knew that they will lose the match but he did not play any airy-fairy shots.
“He takes pride in scoring his own runs, that he should not get out. Anyone would have got out to the ball he was dismissed, it kept extremely low,” Nehra said on Star Sports.
“He kept at it which you need to do on the fourth and fifth days on a subcontinent pitch. The desire makes this player different from others and it is not only here, when he couldn’t score runs in England, very few people would have seen Virat Kohli lunging forward to play the defensive shots. To do that, you need the fitness,” Nehra said.
