"Important to want to hit the short ball", says Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli after scoring 123 of 111 balls in his first international innings in New Zealand, in the first ODI in Napier, told that it was important to want to hit the short ball, while playing outside sub-continent, and in order to do so, batsman need to get into a good position.

In the first ODI, four of the top six Indian batsman fell to short balls. Kohli also mentioned that the Indian batsman need to be technically and physically prepared to deal with the short stuff.

“It’s a very personal choice of any team, what sort of plan they want to come up with against us,” Kohli said. “I think a lot of teams have tried to bounce us out but that hasn’t been the case for the longest time that I have seen. Mostly the bouncer is a plan to set you up for the next ball to nick you off. A bouncer is never to scare you away, it is just to put in the batsman’s head that there might be a short ball coming, another one, because you have two in the over now”, Kohli said.

“I think as international cricketers, we have got to be good enough to stand up to that challenge and be fit enough to actually react to those deliveries. That’s where your fitness counts as well. If you are not fit enough, you might not have the reflexes to actually tackle a ball thrown at 150 kmph and you might be totally exposed or found in a very uncomfortable spot. As I said, we should be prepared to face anything. If it is a seaming wicket, if they are trying to nick us off, then we should be technically correct to tackle that. If they are trying to bounce us out, we should be technically correct to leave the ball or, if confident, pull the ball.”

“If you are looking to leave the ball, then more often than not you will get hit on the glove or the helmet. If I am looking to hit the ball, then I can get under the ball much better, I have much better balance because my body is going forward. I have a good base to duck under the ball”, Kohli said.

Kohli said that he normally try to pull in front of square as much as possible than hooking, thus giving him more control over the shot and be nicely controlled too. “Even if I am not ducking, if I have a good base, then I have confidence to actually pull the ball and I look to hit it in front of square. I hardly look to hook the ball unless it is on my body, so it gives me more control. It gives you that extra half a second because you know you have to hit the ball in front of square, so you have to be quick enough to do that. You have to be quick enough to tackle the ball coming at 140.”

“One thing I learnt in South Africa was when you are batting, whatever you are doing, you need to commit to it fully,” he said. “Because people are bowling at you at 140-145 kph, there is not much time to decide and think later on, after the ball is bowled. Whatever you want to do, you got to read the length and commit to the shot. If you want to leave the ball, you have got to commit to that.”