‘Challenging Test cricket is the most exciting thing’ – Kohli

“A challenging situation in Test cricket is the most exciting thing a viewer can see, and for a player playing to feel. You can sense that energy, which no other format can provide for you.”

When India’s most popular current cricketer, their Test captain who can lead crowds like the Pied Piper, says these words, you can relax that at least for this generation Test cricket is safe in India, and that as a player he will do his best to hand it down. Through the second Test, which India won to become the No. 1 Test team in the world, Virat Kohli kept asking the small Eden Gardens crowd – still often big enough to fill out some stadiums – to make noise every time New Zealand put together a partnership. He entertained them with a sparkling knock of 45 in a crisis situation in the second innings, which was cut short by a shooter.

“It’s our responsibility to keep Test cricket where it belongs,” Kohli said, “and if we play cricket like this – you saw how engaged the crowd was, they like to see exciting cricket, and we have to provide it. You have to interact with them, you have to make sure they are a part of the whole thing. You feed off their energy. It happens so much in limited overs, so why not in Test cricket?”

A loud crowd, Kohli said, makes a big difference for the home team. “We experience that when we go to Australia, when we go to England, South Africa. They get a couple of wicket, …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com