"I wasn't sledging his batting" - Australian legend defends his comments on Virat Kohli
Former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh is regarded as one of the best slip-catchers. He recently provided an honest opinion on Indian star Virat Kohli's slip-catching ability of late.
Kohli dropped a few catches in the first two Tests of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy and Waugh explained the flaws in his technique while on air with Star Sports. He said:
"I think his feet are too wide apart. His weight is often on the back of heels rather than on his feet. Sometimes, he looks like he is not expecting the ball. He has got to be expecting the ball every single delivery."
However, speaking to Fox Cricket, Waugh also made it clear that he wasn't talking about Virat Kohli's form as a batter in Tests. He opened up on how he saw shades of Kohli's vintage best during his 44-run knock in the second innings of the second Test in Delhi. The Aussie said:
"I wasn't sledging his batting. I was sledging his catching, which he did improve actually. He worked hard on it. But I cannot believe that Virat Kohli hasn't scored a century in 39 innings.
"He is a great player so he is not used to not scoring runs but I did feel like that in Delhi he was getting back to his best."
For what it’s worth, Virat Kohli’s 44 in Delhi was an absolute peach. Looked good here too on an unpredictable pitch.
Pitches and conditions mostly aren’t considered when talking form. #IndvAus
Looks like Virat Kohli is ready to explode: Brad Haddin
Former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was present in the discussion on Fox Cricket alongside Mark Waugh. He also weighed in on the discussion on Virat Kohli showing signs of returning to his best in Tests.
On this, Haddin stated:
"He's started to look ok in the Test match in India. He got undone by a beautiful bit of bowling from Todd Murphy but he came down the wicket, took the spinners on and he looks like he is ready to explode, for that big score.
"We know he likes playing against us so maybe this is the opportunity."
Kohli once again showed glimpses of his best self in the third Test against Australia in Indore. However, he was dismissed for 22 in the first innings and more recently, for 13 in the second, trapped in front by Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann respectively.
It will be interesting to see if Kohli will be able to break his century drought in the final Test of the series in Ahmedabad.