ENG v IND 2018: England's assistant coach Paul Farbrace wants English players to take inspiration from Virat Kohli

Kohli has been in a fine touch against England. He has already scored 440 runs in the series.

Virat Kohli | GETTY

Virat Kohli isn't suited for English conditions is what everyone thought when India last toured England. But the Indian skipper worked on his flaws and his hard work perfectly reflected in the way he has been scoring runs on the current tour of England. 

Kohli's performance made the England assistant coach Paul Farbrace to urge his players to look after the Indian skipper and learn how to dominate even in unfamiliar conditions.

After 149 & 51 in the Edgbaston Test, Kohli added 97 & 103 in the ongoing Trent Bridge Test. He thrashed his 23rd Test ton on Monday to take India to an almost unconquerable lead in the game. 

In this series, he has already scored 440 runs till now in just 6 innings, whereas, on his last tour here Kohli had just scored 134 runs in 10 innings.

England is chasing a target of 521 set by the tourists with two more days to go in the match. Farbrace wants his batsmen to show some fight and turn things around for them.

Speaking about Kohli, the modern great, English coach said, “You would be hard-pressed to argue against him being seen as the best player in the world at the moment.

“The way that he has developed played through this series; he has played fantastically. It’s fantastic to see someone playing the game in that way.

“He’s a high-quality player and he’s shown that he’s learned a lot on this tour alone. The way he has tinkered (with technique), the way he has practiced and worked on his game, he thoroughly deserves the runs he’s scored."

England's poor slip catching had almost cost them a game at Edgbaston. Kohli was dropped twice --on 21 and 51. In Trent Bridge too, he again survived the nervous nineties after being dropped by Keaton Jennings on 93.

“Our bowlers might argue that he’s been given too many chances, but the bloke has shown he is high quality.

“I’m a big believer in players learning from players. I think our players should be watching the way he has played, the way he lets the ball come. He almost takes the third and fourth slips out of the game the way he plays at the ball.

“So, you are looking for the best players to learn from the best players and trying to adapt their game to suit (them). And there is no better exponent of that than him," Paul said.

Talking about the drop chances, he added, “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 starts 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.”

England was bundled out in just a session by the Indian pace attack. Farbrace wasn't impressed with the effort by English batsmen.

“The key for us is showing the right intent, and from yesterday’s innings that would be the biggest disappointment. We lost two wickets in two balls, and the intent went out of our innings.

“We can defend, and we can say we’ve got lots of good players, and players at different stages of their careers, but the key is to show you can do it in the middle. They played well tonight, but it’s about continuing that on. Intent doesn’t just mean scoring quickly; it means defending well, leaving well, rotating the strike."

 
 

By Sihyeu Singh - 21 Aug, 2018

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