The Indian batting great enjoyed his time out in the field as West Indies capitulated in the third-innings on Day 3 of the Dominica Test.
Virat Kohli made an impressive feast of one of the more attritional tracks he has had to encounter in the opening Test series of the West Indies series in Dominica. The Indian batting great had to dig deep into his powers of concentration and apply immense patience to overcome to one of the slowest decks in the Caribbean, which did progressively tilt towards a dry turner from the straight but forcing the pace off the bat was equally a task.
It took Kohli a whole of 80 deliveries on the fag end of Day 2 to find his first boundary – an unheard of scenario for the naturally freeflowing right-hander, who loves pace and bounce off the surface. Having waited so long, the Indian No.4 even celebrated his first three boundaries once he sporadically achieved them.
The only time when the shackles were removed was when he crossed his fifty the next day, one of his slowest-ever half-centuries arriving off a whopping 147 deliveries, which again reinforced the challenge of batting on the pitch up for use at Windsor Park.
Kohli would be disappointed he missed out on a Test hundred here after working so hard for it, finishing 76 off 182 after edging a leg-trap turner from Rahkeem Cornwall to the close-in fielder, but also equally relieved and pleased to have contributed to an innings victory for the side.
That relief resulted in some great fun during West Indies’ disastrous third-innings to try and overhaul India’s massive 271-run lead in the last session and a half of the Test.
Virat Kohli was seen standing at second-slip or at short gully and chatting constantly with wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, first-slip Ajinkya Rahane and short-leg Shubman Gill while giving his running commentary on the proceedings and encouragement to the bowler.
Bringing a child-like excitement to the fore, Kohli was seen playing with the giant screen, which stopped on him for a good 12-15 seconds after he couldn’t make a better attempt at a low-catch offered by Jason Holder against Ravindra Jadeja.
These three have enjoyed the game the most, 😅
— Vipin Tiwari (@vipintiwari952) July 15, 2023
Kohli looked at the giant screen and just started laughing his heart out, and even got Kishan involved as they played game with the cameramen. The clip of the entire incident has been unsurprisingly received with great laughter on the outside.
