Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli finished one more year without scoring a century in all three formats of the game. In the ongoing Boxing Day Test against South Africa, Kohli scored just 35 and 18 in the first and second innings respectively.
In the second innings Kohli got out trying to play a cover drive for the second time in the Centurion Test and after his dismissal there has been criticism around his selection of shots.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar was also let down after Kohli got out cheaply for the second time in the first Test against South Africa after getting dismissed in an identical way in both the innings – chasing wide balls only to edge them behind.
The 33-year-old ended up repeating the same mistake when South African bowler Marco Jansen bowled away from his body in the second innings but the Indian skipper just edged it to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.
Loose shot
While talking about Kohli’s dismissal, Gavaskar called the Test skipper’s shot a “loose” one. Gavaskar also added that given India had just come in to bat after the lunch break, Kohli should have given himself a bit of time to settle down.
“(It was) bowled at an angled across outside off stump, look at how far he played. Pretty similar to the first innings dismissal,” Gavaskar explained on-air.
“It was a loose shot, first ball after lunch. Every batsman gives himself a little time, especially in Test cricket to get his feet moving. Even if it’s a drink interval, you need to reset your batting. Kohli, being such an experienced batsman… maybe he was looking to get quick runs to get declaration done. But often, when teams look for declaration, especially in Indian cricket history, they’d be all out.
“Look how far away this ball is, he could’ve left it all alone. First ball after lunch! He’s a predominantly bottom hand player, the bat has an angle to it which gets him out,” he added.
This is the third year Kohli has not scored a century in his international career. Before 2020-21 period, the last century-less year for the Delhi-born batsman was in 2008. Kohli last crossed the triple-figure mark in 2019 against Bangladesh in the famous pink-ball Test in Kolkata.
