"Fir wahi unplayable ball" - Top 10 Virat Kohli memes after his failure against Bangladesh in the 1st Test
Former Indian captain Virat Kohli's poor run of form in the format continued as he failed again on Day 1 of the first Test against Bangladesh.
The two-match Test series kicked off on Wednesday, December 14, at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. Bangladesh won the preceding three-match ODI series by a 2-1 margin.
The Men in Blue batted first in the contest after winning the toss. Captain KL Rahul (22) and Shubman Gill (20) began well by playing a few confident strokes in the first hour, and took their side to 41 before Taijul Islam dismissed Gill in the 14th over. Rahul departed soon after, without building on his start.
With the scoreboard reading 45/2 in the morning session of Day 1, Team India's hopes of a resurgence relied heavily on their talismanic batter, Virat Kohli. However, Kohli failed to bail his side out as Taijul Islam dismissed him with a beautiful delivery in the 20th over.
Taijul's delivery pinned the former captain right in front of the stumps as he tried to defend with a turn on the backfoot.
Virat Kohli is currently in a prolonged lean patch in the Test format. In 17 Tests over the last two years, he has scored only 835 runs at a middling average of 28.79, which pales in comparison to his career average (49.23).
Kohli has not scored a Test century over the past three years. His last hundred in the format came against Bangladesh on November 22, 2019, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Fans were disappointed to witness yet another poor showing from Virat Kohli in his previously preferred Test format. They took to social media platforms to express their views by sharing memes on the matter.
Here are some of the reactions:
Cheteshwar Pujara, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant lift India after Virat Kohli's early dismissal
Rishabh Pant walked in to bat with 48/3 on the board and played his natural aggressive game to rescue India from a tricky situation. He targeted Taijul Islam, who was the pick of the bowlers until then, and disturbed his rhythm.
However, Pant fell four runs short of a well-deserved half-century when Mehidy Hasan Miraz got him out in the 32nd over.
Shreyas Iyer and Cheteshwar Pujara then hit fluent half-centuries to steer Team India towards a healthy total. After 74 overs India were at 231/4, with Pujara and Iyer at the crease.