Who said what - top 4 expert reactions to Virat Kohli's 2nd innings failure in 2nd BGT 2024-25 Test in Adelaide ft. Sanjay Manjrekar
Team India ace batter Virat Kohli may have had a forgettable farewell at the Adelaide Oval after being dismissed for just 11 runs in the second innings of the second Test against Australia. The poor score comes a day after he scored just 7 runs in the first innings.
Kohli was undone by Scott Boland, who reaped the rewards of relentlessly pursuing the line outside off-stump. His efforts finally yielded an edge that was safely pouched by Alex Carey with the gloves.
The former skipper seemed to have released some pressure with his ton at Perth, but the string of poor scores, and the usual manner of dismissal brings back critics like they never left. Scrutiny was already in place for Kohli ahead of the tour, but these twin failures intensified the pressure on him as India are placed in a precarious position.
On that note, let us take a look at four expert reactions to Virat Kohli's second-innings failure in the second BGT 2024-25 Test in Adelaide.
#1 Parthiv Patel
The former India wicket-keeper noted how Kohli's woes dealing with the line outside off-stump is well known in the cricketing fraternity, allowing oppositions to take advantage of it for a while now.
"The bowlers kept bowling outside off stump to Kohli. Even though he left a lot of the balls in that region in the start, but he was struggling. We all know that he struggles in that particular area, and he will play with hard hards, getting caught behind, for a couple of years now consistently. The exact same thing happened to him today as well," Parthiv Patel said on Cricbuzz.
#2 Sanjay Manjrekar
The former India cricketer claimed that Kohli being back among the runs in Perth did not solve the 'serious technical issue' as one might have wondered.
"The technique that he has developed to counter the line outside the off stump, swinging ball, has not made his life easier. When he got that hundred in the last game, I thought, let's find out whether just the dearth of runs is contributing to his mistakes that he is making. Now, with the monkey off the back, you expected Virat Kohli to be a lot more relaxed, looking in better shape. But clearly, he has got a serious technical issue that he cannot find the solution to," Manjrekar told ESPN Cricinfo.
#3 Cheteshwar Pujara
The veteran batter opined that Kohli was on the receiving end of a sublime delivery from Boland that he could not leave, even if he chose to. However, at the same time, he claimed that Kohli needs to work on this issue in the nets to avoid a repeat in the remainder of the series.
"I would like to give the entire credit to Boland because of the corridor in which he bowled. The angle Boland creates is very difficult for a batter because every ball follows the batter, it comes in. So you cannot leave that ball," Pujara said on Star Sports.
"He (Kohli) will definitely have to work more. Virat is a batter who knows his game very well, especially in Australian conditions but he is getting nicked off a lot currently. He will himself want to practice so that he doesn't get nicked off going forward because that will be the Australian bowlers' game plan when he comes to bat in the next Test match," he added.
#4 Sunil Gavaskar
The legendary Indian cricketer, who had defended Kohli's poor outing in the first innings, came in support of the ace batter yet again. He remarked that Boland had delivered an unplayable delivery, and there was not much wrong with how Kohli tried to deal with it.
"Really quality bowling, this was really a peach of a delivery which he got. You see earlier on, around the off, he's been leaving the ball quite well. Heβs not pushing at the ball, the thing is that sometimes he tends to push at deliveries. There was nothing wrong with, with what he did. It was just a superb delivery to get rid of a world-class batter,β said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
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