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Debutant Rachin Ravindra and number 11 batter Ajaz Patel
combined in a last-wicket stand for New Zealand during the last
session in Kanpur to see out the final 52 balls to deny India
victory and leave the two-match series evenly poised.
While Kohli's return after a rest will be a welcome boost for
the second-ranked test side's batting, it will also leave them
with a selection headache.
In Kohli's absence, Mumbai batter Shreyas Iyer made a dream test
debut with a first-innings 105 followed by a crucial 65 in the
second.
Calls have grown to drop either Ajinkya Rahane, who led India in
Kanpur, or Cheteshwar Pujara - both of whom have been short of
runs - to vacate a spot for Kohli and allow Iyer to retain his
place.
"Both with Ajinkya and obviously Pujara, we know that there's
lot of experience behind them," India's bowling coach Paras
Mhambrey told reporters on Wednesday.
"We also know as a team that they're one inning away from coming
into form. So as a team everyone is behind them, backing them.
We know the value they bring to the team, the experience that
they have will come good.
"So in that sense, we are really not having those discussions
around them. They've played enough cricket to understand what's
expected of them and what is required to get that going."
For India there are question marks on the availability of
Wriddhiman Saha, who was unable to don his wicketkeeping gloves
on the final day due to a stiff neck.
KS Bharat will make his India debut if Saha is unable to prove
his fitness.
CHANCE TO SCRIPT HISTORY
Top-ranked New Zealand, who beat India in a June contest in
Southampton to win the inaugural World Test Championship, will
have a chance to script history if they manage to win in Mumbai.
The gritty Black Caps have never won a test series in India, let
alone a test match since the 1988/89 tour.
Mumbai-born Patel said the current side are not bothered about
history and they would go into the contest confident that they
can beat India.
But he warned that the spinners need to do better with the ball
than they did at Kanpur.
"As a spin bowling unit, we were somewhat guilty of possibly not
keeping the stumps in play for long periods of time," said the
33-year-old, whose parents immigrated to New Zealand in 1996.
"We've just got to make sure that we're a lot tighter on our
lines and our lengths.
"From a batting perspective, our batters did an outstanding job
on that wicket against the calibre of spinners that they (India)
have."
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Rohith Nair)
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