Niall O'Brien praises Indian cricketers ahead of tour match

Niall O’Brien calls Indian captain Mahendra Singh as ‘inspirational’

The 18-member Indian side landed on England soil on June 22, Sunday, raising the excitement levels of the cricket fans on a fascinating contest between bat and ball. It also excited the Irish international cricketer Niall O’Brien, the foreign export of the Leicestershire side that is scheduled to play a practice game against the tourists.

"India are a wonderful bunch of cricketers who can destroy you one minute, intrigue you another and just dazzle you with their unreal skill and talent the next," O'Brien wrote in his column in the Leicester Mercury.

"India will be led by the inspirational Dhoni who is another top man and a superb captain who has transformed the India side over recent years with his tactical nous and aggressive approach, both in the field and with the bat.

"Another who will create great interest is Virat Kohli, the new kid on the block. This man is a genius with the willow in his hand and is already is making serious runs that will surely one day put him near the top of the Indian run-getters list," the wicket-keeper batsman wrote.

The 32-year-old O’Brien who scored a century against India in the 2011 tour game, felt that playing India will improve Leicestershire’s performance in the County tournament.

"It is always a great experience, especially for the younger lads, to play against MS Dhoni and co. For the (Leicester) Foxes, it will be a great Test for our batsmen and bowlers to show what they can do against a Test side," the left-hander wrote.

India will be looking forward to making some records straight after a disastrous tour last time and after the match against Leicestershire, they will face Derbyshire in preparation for the Test series that begins on July 9 at Nottingham.