With a 3-1 Test series win over England at home last month, Team India secured their place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final last month.
India will face New Zealand in the summit clash at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton from June 18 to 22 and skipper Virat Kohli wants to leave no stone unturned to prepare for the all-important encounter.
However, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain is not getting much help from his IPL teammate and Kiwi pacer Kyle Jamieson.
See Also: Kyle Jamieson explains how Virat Kohli’s style of leadership complements his game
Recently, RCB all-rounder Dan Christian revealed that Jamieson, who is featuring in his maiden IPL season after being roped in for a whopping INR 15 crore, is carrying a couple of Dukes balls, which will be used in the WTC final.
Christian further said that Kohli asked Jamieson to bowl with the Dukes to him in the nets but the Black Caps speedster declined.
“Pretty cagey from Virat actually, right in the first week we were here. The three of us were sitting down after the nets and these two were talking about Test cricket.
“Virat said: ‘So Jamie (Kyle Jamieson) have you bowled much with the Dukes ball?’ and they are talking about that stuff.
“Jamie says: ‘Yeah, I have a couple of them here, I will have a bowl leading in before I go over there’ and Virat says ‘Oh, if you want to have a bowl against me in the nets, I am more than happy to face’.
“Jamie was like, ‘No chance I am going to ball at you!’ He would have looked at his release point and everything that he does with the Dukes ball! (chuckles),” Christian said on The Grade Cricketer’s YouTube channel.
It is worth mentioning here that Kyle Jamieson had proved to be a nemesis for quite a few Indian batsmen, including Kohli, when they travelled to New Zealand early last year.
Coming to the RCB camp, Christian said Kohli is not as involved in the off-field activities as other star cricketers such as AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell.
“You don’t see Virat a lot off the field, you see a little bit. He will, maybe, come to half of the things but he has his family here too from the start so we might see more of him now.
“So AB (de Villiers) is the happiest, most humble… never got a bad word to say about anybody, will be there from start to finish. Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) is there from start to finish as well,” said Christian.
(With PTI inputs)
