Virat Kohli didn’t look comfortable during his brief stay in the middle during the first innings of the second Test against Australia. The right-handed batter repeated the same mistake he had committed in the series opener in Perth. Instead of spending some time at the crease, he again tried to be aggressive, and a rising delivery ended his knock of 7 runs.
The conditions were good for batting, but the last match’s centurion was slow in judging the line and length of Mitchell Starc’s delivery and that resulted in his departure. He could have easily left the ball, but doubt in his mind took the bat close to the ball and by the time he decided to withdraw from the stroke, the pink cherry had taken an edge from his bat, and Steve Smith made no mistake.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who was in the commentatory box, was asked what he would tell Kohli about his dismissal if the two sat together.
“I think Virat should learn from Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne, as the two left a lot of deliveries, which helped them to score runs. You can’t play a shot on every ball and Virat could have easily left the ball that took his wicket. He knows the pink ball comes faster than the red ball, and even the bounce is more. The two Aussie batters were smart to choose the scoring deliveries, and if anything was pitched up or was short, they left it,” Cheteshwar Pujara said on Star Sports.
India were bowled out for 180, with Starc taking 6 wickets. The hosts were 86/1 at the stumps.
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