All eyes were on Virat Kohli during the team’s two-and-half-hour training session on the eve of the second One-Day International between India and the West Indies at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi, on Friday.
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The out-of-form batsman had a poor series in England in both the Tests and ODI series and was dismissed cheaply in the first ODI in Kochi. The right-hander was caught in the slips off pacer Jerome Taylor for two as India were thrashed by 124 runs in the series opener on Wednesday.
Team mate Shikhar Dhawan believes Kohli is mentally very strong and will bounce back with lot of runs soon.
"We discuss a lot of things; obviously, we are very good friends, but he is mentally a very strong character. It's good to see him remain positive all this while. I'm sure he'll be back in form soon and score lots of runs," Dhawan said when asked if he had any advice for the team’s vice-captain.
West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo is hoping Kohli's lean patch continues.
"Virat is a fantastic player and will score a lot of runs. I wish him a lot of success in the World Cup, but, for the time being, we would like to ensure that his lean patch continues," Bravo said.
Kohli entered the nets and had a long interaction with chief coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
In the first net session, he faced the pace bowlers -- mainly net bowlers, as Mohit Sharma has been ruled out of the series and Mohammed Shami was given rest during the optional session.
Among the frontline pacers, only Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were available.
While the grumpy looking Fletcher observed Kohli keenly, one saw a few deliveries from the net bowlers find the thick-ish outside edge of his bat. Even Yadav beat his bat a couple of times with pace.
Once Kohli was done with facing the pacers, he took fresh guard at the spinners' net. He did step out a number of times to Amit Mishra and on fewer occasions to Ravindra Jadeja's left-arm spin.
Quite a few deliveries were well-struck but he did mis-time a few. Later, he took throw-downs from assistant coach Sanjay Bangar in an extended net session with the bat.
After his session, Kohli sat near the sightscreen and shared a laugh with Suresh Raina after which he did some short sprints alone in the area adjacent to the practice nets.
