HYDERABAD: India captain Virat Kohli Thursday said that Test cricket across the globe should be played with the England-made Duke balls, expressing his displeasure at the poor quality of the SG balls that India use at home.
“The Dukes ball, I think, is the most suited ball for Test cricket. If there’s a situation I would vouch for that to be used all over the world because of the consistency of the ball and how the bowlers are in the game at any stage, even the spinners, because the seam is so hard and upright,” Kohli said on the eve of the second Test against the West Indies.
Currently, there are no ICC specific guidelines and different countries use different balls. While India use their home-made ‘SG Test’ from early ’90s (Sonnex was the ball before that) manufactured by Meerut-based Sanspareils Greenlands, England and West Indies use the UK’s Dukes with the most pronounced seam. Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka use the Kookaburra. Before Kohli, senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has also spoken about how he felt better bowling with the Kookaburra than ‘SG Test’.
Asked about Ashwin’s complaints about the quality, Kohli supported his lead spinner. “I totally agree with him. To have a ball scuffed up in five overs is something that we haven’t seen before. The quality of the ball used to be quite high before and I don’t understand the reason why it has gone down. (PTI)
