Virat Kohli is Hungry as Ever - IND Coach Gautam Gambhir Issues Warning to NZ Ahead of Test Series

India vs New Zealand: Despite his failures against Bangladesh , a confident Gautam Gambhir claims that India's premier batter is hungry as ever ahead of the New Zealand series. Kohli will be the key to India's fortunes in the upcoming three-match Test series against New Zealand at home. Gambhir is hopeful that Kohli will get runs against New Zealand and then against Australia. 

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‘Kohli is as hungry as ever’

"Virat Kohli is as hungry as ever, hopefully he will get runs here against New Zealand and then in Australia. We know how consistent he can get once he hits that phase", Gambhir said as quoted by PTI. 

Despite not getting the big runs, Kohli became the fastest player to reach 27,000 international runs during day four of India’s second Test against Bangladesh at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.

Gambhir also confirmed that India would not change their ultra-aggressive style of play even if get bundled out for a paltry total. 

'We won't hold back people from playing aggressive cricket'

"We won't hold back people from playing aggressive cricket. We may get bundled out for 100 but we are not overly concerned and we'll take it up then," Gambhir on team's approach.

ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 Standings

The series starts on October 16 in Bengaluru with following Tests in Pune and Mumbai. All the three games would be important as India would look to strengthen their hold at the top of the WTC standings.

India are on top of the WTC standings while New Zealand, title-winners in 2021, are in sixth position.

India’s squad for the three Tests against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli , KL Rahul , Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin , Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep