It has been quite a rare scene to find Virat Kohli making the same mistake despite playing 20 to 25 balls in the middle as he did during the first Test against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In the first innings, even after scoring six runs, he chased the fourth stump line ball to get the outside edge.
In the second innings, Virat Kohli looked set on 17 runs in 36 balls as he nailed a couple of boundaries to get going in the innings, but again made the same mistake and was given leg before the stumps against off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
During the post-match discussion on Colors Cineplex, the former Indian opening batter, Ajay Jadeja, revealed that perhaps the decision to play the full delivery slightly across got the better of the Delhi-born, while he accepted that as humans, they are bound to make mistakes.
“Virat Kohli getting out was probably the biggest surprise because you rarely see him making a mistake after playing 20-25 balls in such conditions. He made a mistake there and played slightly across. He is also human. Everyone makes mistakes. This is the start of the season maybe”. The Gujarat-born expressed while making the analysis.
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The veteran came into the game with an average of 49.16 in the five-day format, but two couple of low scores now have dropped it down to 48.74 in the red-ball format.
Aakash Chopra highlights the mistake of Virat Kohli during the second innings
Jadeja was surprised that during the LBW dismissal, it was peculiar to find that the former captain didn’t realize the inside edge of his blade, which most of the batters pick quite comfortably.
“Forget everything else, when he didn’t come to know that the ball had hit his bat, where the ball is going, is a far-away thought. Maybe the mind was somewhere else. If you see the ball, it neither spun nor kept low, but at times, you make a mistake even against straight balls, which is rare.” The veteran remarked during the discussion.
Virat Kohli had a little chat with his partner, Shubman Gill, regarding the dismissal but opted not to go for the review. Later, the ultra-edge suggested that there was a faint edge on the blade of the batter before it hit the pads.
Another former opener of the Blue Brigade, Aakash Chopra, takes a look at Gill as he dissects whether the number three batter had made any mistake in the whole situation.
“The question does not arise at all. When the bat is in your hands and you have the DRS, you don’t ask that question at all. You don’t look anywhere else, you signal for the DRS and have a smirk on your face as well, that it is a bad decision. However, when you asked, it meant you were just asking whether it was going straight or missing.” Chopra addressed this during the conversation.
The renowned commentator believes that it was a trap by the Bangladesh team that the 35-year-old fell for.
“Another interesting thing was that when Mehidy was bowling, there was no fielder at deep square leg for Virat Kohli. He hit a four off the previous delivery, a pull off the backfoot. The fielder was kept up because he doesn’t play the sweep.” The Uttar Pradesh-born explained.
“You generally play that ball straight but, he wasn’t getting a single or four there. So when he was looking to hit hard to find the gap as the square leg fielder was up, maybe that induced a mistake but, it’s a fact that he doesn’t make such mistakes.” Aakash Chopra concluded.
Virat Kohli could collect only 23 runs in two innings of the game and will hope to be back in good touch during the second Test at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.