cricket

Updated: Nov 15, 2019 07:37 IST

Ajinkya Rahane had already dropped a catch and Mushfiqur was living a charmed life on Day 1 of the first India vs Bangladesh Test match at Indore. Virat Kohli was shuffling his bowlers around, he wanted to keep them all fresh, especially the seamers and this is when he turned to the crowd.

The captain looked towards the crowd which was rather vociferous and gestured them to get going, he signalled the crowd to become raucous and cheer on as his fast bowlers sprinted in. The captain took over the role of a cheerleader and well, the crowd was all to happy to clap and sing along. They found their voice, they started to belt out cheers.

Shami, who found his groove after lunch, looked menacing. However, he was unlucky as few close shaves did not go his way. In what would be the final over before tea, Shami steamed in and landed the ball on a length, Mushfiqur was hurried in his defence. Kohli sensed something, as Shami walked back to his mark, the skipper turned to the crowd and signalled towards his bowler. He wanted to crowd to go berserk as Shami charged in, the crowd obliged. What followed was an absolute beauty. With a ball which was 54 overs old, Shami landed it on a length and got it to nip in sharply. It snuck between bat and pads and Mushfiqur lost his stumps.

Kohli ran towards Shami, the players all convened and just then, the skipper broke away from the huddle and gave a thumbs up the crowd. Shami had tasted blood, he fired a full yorker at Mehidy who was trapped in front and was given out. This time this crowd did not need any cajoling, they were all up as one as India went into two with 7 Bangladesh wickets down.

“When there is a lean patch when nothing is happening, Virat Kohli goes away from the slip cordon and tries to get the crowd going. That momentum helps the fast bowlers to run in and deliver the kind of deliveries that they want. It’s a brilliant team and wonderful to see the lethal and wonderful aspect of Indian cricket team come to the fore,” former India batting coach Sanjay told the host broadcasters in the post-tea session.

Kohli had complained about crowds when India played in Ranchi. Indore, in more ways than one, is sending a reminder that they are a proper Test venue.