India’s former opening batter, Aakash Chopra, expressed that Virat Kohli failed to end his lean form during his return to the Delhi side in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 clash against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. He reckoned that the only new thing in the entire game was the dismissal mode of the batter.
Kohli walked into the middle on the second day’s play. He opened the account with a single before smashing his trademark straight drive for a boundary. But Himanshu Sangwan made a cracking comeback on the very next delivery as the in-swinging delivery went through the gate.
Aakash Chopra opined that the only comforting factor for Kohli’s fans would be the different mode of dismissal. The 36-year-old has been repeating the same mistakes for a long time to get dismissed through the outside edge of the blade.
“So many people had come for Kohli. They were waiting. On the first day, people were asking (Yash) Dhull and Sanat (Sangwan) to be given out as they had come to watch only Kohli. He played incoming balls well at the start. He got beaten on two consecutive away-going deliveries.” Aakash Chopra expressed this in the video that was shared on his YouTube channel.
“Then he came to the other end, did a slight shimmy, hit a four down the ground, and then went forward similarly to the next ball. There was a gap between the bat and the pad, and he got bowled. The only solace was that he didn’t get out to an outside-off delivery.” The Uttar Pradesh-born addressed.
Aakash Chopra highlights senior batters’ performance in Ranji Trophy 2024-25
Kohli managed just 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50 against New Zealand at home, including one half-century at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. He celebrated a fine unbeaten century during the second innings of the Perth Test in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 but still ended up with 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75.
Aakash Chopra felt that Kohli’s dismissal was heartbreaking, as the latter was seen wanting in some other area as he attempted to correct his usual shortcomings.
“He was getting out caught behind and got beaten by an incoming delivery this time. Of course, he is working towards something, so something was left lacking here. However, the heart was broken, there is no doubt about that. It’s the truth.” Aakash Chopra stated.
The 47-year-old noted that the entire Arun Jaitley Stadium was nearly emptied once Kohli was dismissed. This highlights the star culture in the country as the spectators were only interested in the batter’s performance and not the Ranji Trophy match.
Aakash Chopra elaborated that Virat Kohli’s name got added to the list of the Indian Test players who failed in the recent rounds of the Ranji Trophy.
“The problem is that all our batters, barring Shubman Gill, I am talking about the main team players, haven’t scored runs, whether it was Rohit (Sharma), Yashasvi (Jaiswal), Virat Kohli now, KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant. They all went to play, but no one scored runs. Only Shubman Gill scored a hundred in the second innings. Everyone else got out, including Virat Kohli.” Aakash Chopra concluded.
Shubman Gill smashed a second-innings century against Punjab for Karnataka. None of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, or Rishabh Pant returned with good scores, while Ravindra Jadeja celebrated 12 wickets in the game for Saurashtra against Delhi at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. KL Rahul managed only 26 runs in their first innings against Haryana in the ongoing clash.