"He will have to forget this at the earliest" - Cheteshwar Pujara on Virat Kohli's twin failures in BGT 2024-25 2nd Test
Cheteshwar Pujara has noted that the Australian bowlers exploited Virat Kohli's slight weakness outside the off-stump in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. However, Pujara urged the modern batting great to quickly forget his twin failures in the pink-ball Test while heading into the third game in Brisbane.
Australia registered a resounding 10-wicket win in the second Test in Adelaide on Sunday, December 8, to draw parity in the five-match series. Kohli, who scored an unbeaten century in India's second innings of the first Test in Perth, aggregated just 18 runs across his two hits in Adelaide.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Pujara opined that Kohli needs to move forward quickly from his below-par performances in the second Test.
"He will have to forget this at the earliest. Somewhere or the other, the slight weakness he has outside the off-stump where he gets out many times, the Australian bowlers kept bowling in the same channel and exploited that weakness," he said.
The veteran India batter added that Kohli needs to focus on the next game if he wants to do an encore of his performance in Perth.
"Virat Kohli will just have to keep in mind that the way he batted in Perth, he made a big score, it will be expected from him that he plays a similar knock in Brisbane, but for that, when you have a failure, you have to emerge from it, forget it quickly and focus on the next match," Pujara observed.
Virat Kohli was dismissed for five in India's first innings of the Perth Test. However, he bounced back brilliantly to score an unbeaten 100 in the second essay to help the visitors register a 295-run win in the series opener.
"It keeps playing in your mind that you could get caught behind or in the slips" - Cheteshwar Pujara on Virat Kohli's dismissals in Adelaide
![Virat Kohli was caught behind in India's second innings in Adelaide. [P/C: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/12/6e26c-17336529899715-1920.jpg?w=500)
In the same discussion, Cheteshwar Pujara noted that Virat Kohli might keep reminiscing about his modes of dismissals in Adelaide.
"This is also a game of the mind. As a batter, when your weakness is exploited somewhere, it keeps playing in your mind that you could get caught behind or in the slips. So he will have to forget it as quickly as possible," he said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator expects the Indian batting mainstays to work on his shortcomings before the third Test.
"The corridor of uncertainty where he is getting out, just outside the off-stump, around the fourth stump, he will have to work a little on that, and he knows that. Virat is a batter who knows his game very well. So he will go to the nets and work on this, and we will expect to get better results in the next game," Pujara observed.
Kohli scored seven runs and was caught at second slip off Mitchell Starc's bowling in India's first innings in Adelaide. In the second essay, he was caught behind off Scott Boland's bowling after scoring 11 runs.