After the former Indian captain, Virat Kohli celebrated his 30th Test century during the second innings of the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth, it felt that the batter had gotten back his mojo and could look in a better shape for the rest of the five Tests.
However, things didn’t click for him during the second day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval. In the first innings of the encounter, Virat Kohli wasn’t sure whether to leave the short and wide swinging delivery from Mitchell Starc and ended up getting a faint edge into the hands of Steve Smith in the slip corridor.
In the second innings, under the floodlight, he walked out into the middle with the touring side struggling at 42/2 after the first ball of the ninth over. The Delhi-born began with a streaky boundary, which came through the outside edge of the batter in the fifth-stump line. But that didn’t last long.
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Virat Kohli was struggling against the moving ball against Scott Boland, and in a way to get forward to defend the delivery, the 36-year-old got a faint edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper to leave the Adelaide Oval, perhaps for one final time, in the longest format of the game with 11 runs in 21 deliveries.
Virat Kohli was criticized for poor technique by Sanjay Manjrekar in recent Tests
It hasn’t been a supreme year for the batter, who came into the series on the back of his struggle against New Zealand at home, where he could collect just 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50 with one half-century.
In the ongoing year, Virat Kohli has grabbed only 373 runs in 16 games at an average of 26.64, with the help of one century and one half-century. The pressure has started to climb up again, as the series now stands leveled at 1-1, and one of them will take a lead in the third fixture at the Gabba in Brisbane.
The former top order batter, Sanjay Manjrekar, felt that the technical issue of the former Indian captain had been a problem for him of late but he was surprised to see the same issue keep on going even after the century in the first Test.
“I don’t have strong opinions on Virat Kohli. I just said the truths or the facts that I have seen in front of me. And it’s something that I have seen before as well. The technique that he has developed to counter the line outside off stump against the swinging ball hasn’t made his life easier.” Manjrekar said in a discussion on ESPNcricinfo.
He also showed his surprise at how he expected Kohli to be comfortable and in better shape, but the technical issue hasn’t left him yet.
“When he got that hundred (in the second innings of the opening Test in Perth), I thought ok, let’s find out if just the dirt of runs has contributed to the mistakes that he has been making. Now, with the monkey off his back, you expect Virat Kohli to be a lot more relaxed and in a better shape, but that was a problem earlier as well for runs and technical issues.” Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted.
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“However, after getting the hundred against the same line he has troubled for, he has got the serious technical issue that he just can’t find a solution to.” He concluded.
It might be the last trip for Virat Kohli to Australia for Tests, and he will look to end it in a better shape and rhythm.