Virat Kohli's net sessions are often an intense, well-calculated drill, a compressed version of his real-game batting. India's optional nets in Bengaluru on Friday was an encore as Kohli meticulously went about polishing his skills against short-pitched bowling and left-arm spin that he will need to negate potentially against New Zealand in the World Cup semifinals. The Kiwis are primed for a last four match against India at Mumbai on November 15 on the back of 10 points and a superior run-rate than their closest contender Pakistan. The immediate goal in front of Kohli might be disposing of Netherlands, but with due respect the Dutch are not yet in the New Zealand class.
One of the challenges the Black Caps will pose to Kohli will be through Lockie Ferguson. The express pacer is yet to fire like he did in the 2019 World Cup, partially because of a right Achilles niggle.
But Ferguson showed signs of hitting the peak against Sri Lanka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium rattling the Lankan middle and late order with a barrage of short-pitched balls.
He even pinged Maheesh Theekshana on his hands, leaving the batsman writhing in pain for a few minutes.
Ferguson is quite certain to repeat the tactics against India too if the meeting materializes.
Kohli owns one of the better pulls in contemporary cricket and rarely get rattled by the body line but true to his character, the former Indian captain did not leave anything to chance.
Pacer Shardul Thakur and the side-arm specialists bowled an array of bouncers at Kohli and he had little difficulty in smoking several of them away, some shots travelling as far as the second tier.
The 35-year-old also attempted a couple of ramp shots, which might prove handy against a bowler like Ferguson
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Virat Kohli
Lockie Ferguson