Kohli spends extra hours against spinners on roughed up track

NEW DELHI: Out came Virat Kohli and walked into the dressing room. Within minutes he was out, padded up and headed for the nets. He wanted additional batting time and arrived early for a session. He began with customary throw-downs and some knocking off net bowlers.

Once a young bowler, bowling military medium, was pulled disdainfully off his backfoot, he asked for spinners.

“Spinners ko bulaao,” he said and moved to the other net, where he worked on tackling the spinners. Kohli looked at the rough created on that practice strip and then used his boots to create more abrasion.

The idea was to counter the natural variation off the surface where you land the ball on the rough and it can turn either side. India A regular Saurabh Kumar, the talented left-arm spinner from UP, did ask a few probing questions.

There was one delivery where Kohli went on the backfoot. The ball didn’t bounce after pitching. It was a kind of “shooter” that didn’t rise. Kohli had a wry smile and looked at the surface.

There were two off spinners, net bowlers Pulkit Narang and Hrithik Shokeen who tossed up and at times mixed it up with flatter trajectory.