Not The SG Ball, Virat Kohli Prefers The Dukes For Test Matches

As India gear up for the second Test against West Indies in Hyderabad, India captain Virat Kohli believes that India should ditch the SG ball, because according to him, it scuffs up too easily. He further said he would prefer to see the Dukes ball in Tests.

Ravichandran Ashwin also believes that the SG ball is "disappointing" and that he prefers using Australia's Kookaburra or Dukes. "The quality of the SG balls used to be quite high before and I don't understand the reason why it has gone down because Dukes ball is still good quality, Kookaburra is still good quality," said Kohli.

He said the "quality of the ball has to be maintained otherwise you have too many dead sessions in a Test match. You want to see exciting cricket and guys working hard for runs being in the battle all day".

Kohli added: "I totally agree with him (Ashwin). To have a ball that is scuffed up in five overs is not something that we have seen before."

The SG has always been used by India in five-day international and domestic games, while England use Dukes for Test cricket and Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka prefer the Kookaburra.

Kohli, whose side recently lost a five-Test series in England 1-4, said: "The Dukes ball is the most suited ball according to me in Test match cricket, and if there is a situation I would vouch for it to be used all over the world because of the consistency."

The Dukes was always the ball of choice until Australia's Kookaburra broke its monopoly. While England continue to use Dukes in their home Tests, the Kookaburra is widely used in limited-overs cricket.

(With AFP inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Virat Kohli Ravichandran Ashwin India vs West Indies 2018 Cricket