"The bad time is not ending" - Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli failing again in 2nd India vs England ODI
Aakash Chopra has pointed out that Virat Kohli once again failed to play a substantial knock in the second ODI against England after raising hopes by playing a few pleasing shots.
Kohli scored 16 off 25 deliveries before nicking behind the wicket. Team India were bowled out for just 146 in pursuit of a 247-run target to lose by a huge margin of 100 runs.
Aakash Chopra reflected on India's chase in a video shared on his YouTube channel. He said about Kohli's dismissal:
"The big news is that Virat Kohli played, hit three amazing drives as well - a cover drive, a straight drive and an on drive. That was fantastic, but after that got out to an away-going delivery. The bad time is not ending, unfortunately."
The former Indian batter highlighted that Kohli once again flattered to deceive. Aakash Chopra elaborated:
"Virat Kohli raised our expectations again. The way he played those three shots, it seemed the guy will come back in form; it is not far; the legs are moving but then again a distant delivery, going away with the slope, got the edge. This is a huge problem."
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Kohli hit three crunchy boundaries to raise hopes of a revival in his fortunes. However, it turned out to be a false dawn, as he poked at an away-going delivery from David Willey and was caught by Jos Buttler behind the wicket.
"Rohit is troubled by incoming ones and Virat by the ones going away" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra pointed out that captain Rohit Sharma fell prey to his usual Achilles heel. He explained:
"Left-arm swing bowler, pitched-up delivery, hitting on the pads, this happens with Rohit Sharma, but this can happen with anyone. All of us commit an error; some are troubled by incoming deliveries and some by away-going ones, like Rohit is troubled by incoming ones and Virat by the ones going away."
While observing that Mohammad Shami brought some excitement to the game by striking a few lusty blows, the renowned commentator said that the game was already beyond India's reach once they lost all their frontline batters. Chopra said:
"Suryakumar Yadav was playing well, to be fair, got an inside edge, and he got out. Rishabh Pant came and went. Hardik was batting alrigh,t but then he played a shot and got out. Livingstone came and dismissed Jaddu with his very first ball, and that was done and dusted, although Shami did raise some excitement. But it was never going to be enough."
None of the Indian batters even reached the 30-run mark on Thursday. The 42-run fifth-wicket stand between Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya was the highest partnership of the Indian innings. However, that was never going to be enough to chase down a 247-run target as England drew level in the ODI series after losing the first game.