The Australian legend came up with a great piece of commentary to describe and analyse the Virat Kohli dismissal from the WTC final.
Ricky Ponting provided a perfect masterclass of commentary on Virat Kohli’s disappointing edge-out on Day 5 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval. The Australian legend turned fantastic commentator gave the fans a delightful insight into how in-form pacer Scott Boland set up and ultimately broke past Kohli batting set on 49 on the final day.
Kohli was out one more time drawn into driving uppishly against a wide delivery outside the off-stump. The batter got lulled into the stroke off a full-pitched delivery, which moved just enough to hit the splice and landed in the hands of the diving Steve Smith in the slip cordon.
According to Cricviz, it was the widest delivery the Indian batting great has gotten out to against pace since 2018 in English conditions, with the ball carrying minimal likelihood of extracting a dismissal.
In fact, Virat Kohli’s dismissal today was the second widest ball he has gotten out to against pace since 2018 in England. According to our Expected Wickets model, the wicket ball had only a 2% chance of creating a dismissal. https://t.co/r7hZBlhnZc pic.twitter.com/ZjmvQFaKZW
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) June 11, 2023
Virat Kohli’s longstanding frontfoot push and overall technique have been part of the retriggered discussions since his wicket in the morning session. But Ponting highlighted why credit must also given to Boland for inducing the false stroke from the legend when he was in for the long haul.
Speaking on commentary via the ICC production team for host broadcaster Star Sports, Ponting traced the series of deliveries and their nature leading into the Virat Kohli dismissal with a magnified glance into Boland’s seam position on the ball.
“Talk about set-up of Virat Kohli, look at these three deliveries. That one (first ball) had a little bit of extra bounce and went away. That one (second ball) seamed in and this (wicket ball) is fuller and wider, and if anything, held its line and might have gone away,” Ponting said.
“Now let’s look at the subtle change (in seam positions) from Scott Boland. One left of screen, extra bounce with cross seam.. it might have hit the seam and bounced. The one in the middle, pitched up and seamed back.”
“Then look at the change of angle on the third one (wicket ball). He’s actually tilted the seam, and looking for the ball to go away from Virat Kohli towards the slip cordon after the ball before had darted back in. And that’s exactly what it did, it moved like an outswinger and drew Virat Kohli into the shot because the ball before had nipped back in. This is high-class bowling from Scott Boland,” he added.
