Mitchell Starc bowled a fuller-length delivery across Kohli, who went for a drive away from his body but could only get outside edge of the willow.
Virat Kohli was again dismissed in a familiar fashion, chasing a delivery outside the off-stump line in the fourth innings of the Boxing Day Test. As always, he could have avoided playing this shot but couldn’t resist loosely throwing his bat.
Mitchell Starc bowled a fuller-length delivery across Kohli, who went for a drive away from his body but could only get outside edge of the willow. The ball flew straight to the first slip, patrolled by Usman Khawaja, who went low and completed a terrific catch to cut Kohli’s innings short.
India desperately required a partnership because they had quickly lost Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, and Kohli showed good temperament in the first innings. But he made the same mistake again and put India in further trouble.
His weaknesses against deliveries outside the off-stump line have been so obvious that teams don’t need to try anything else to dismiss him. All pacers have adopted a similar tactic and found success against him; Kohli has done absolutely nothing to survive, even after showing encouraging signs in a few innings here and there.
India lost three big wickets – Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli – in the first session of the fifth day of the Boxing Day Test. They looked down and out, with Australia right on top and looked set to win the contest.
However, Rishabh Pant joined hands with Yashasvi Jaiswal and took the innings forward at an ideal rate. They didn’t just dead-bat but looked to score runs to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Also Read: India or Australia? Who Will Meet South Africa in the WTC 2025 Final?
They took calculative risks and ran hard between the wickets to revive India after those big wickets. The target is still too far, and they might not go for it, but their partnership has been full of intent.
Jaiswal completed his well-deserved half-century and played some brilliant shots against a quality bowling lineup of Australia. India would want this partnership to keep going and see how many runs are required in the third session, and then they can decide whether to go for the chase or settle for a draw.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
