It was not the sight that the thousands who turned up at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune as Virat Kohli managed to stay in the middle for just nine deliveries. The batting superstar was dismissed for 1 in the morning session, much to the disappointment of the batter himself, the dressing room and the fans.
Virat Kohli played an uncharacteristic shot, missing a full toss from Mitchell Santner in the 24th over of the Indian innings. The left-arm spinner beat Kohli with drift during a sensational spell in the morning session. Kohli looked to sweep the full toss, but missed the line and saw the ball shattering into the stumps.
It was a shocking dismissal as Virat Kohli rarely employs the sweep early on in his innings. Kohli strode out to the middle with a lot of intent after Santner had got the first wicket of the morning, dismissing India’s No. 3 Shubman Gill for 30 in the 22nd over of the contest.
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar was a harsh critic of Virat Kohli’s shot when he called it the ‘worst shot’ of the star batter’s career.
On the broadcast, former India head coach Ravi Shastri explained that Virat Kohli got off the mark by playing a similar delivery from Santner with a straighter bat and his decision to play across the line brought the dismissal.
“Very similar delivery, he could have taken it on the full and hit it towards mid-on. This was an easier ball to put away because this was on the full. Instead, he went far too across. He could have played it with a straighter bat and put it in the gap. It was four for the taking,” Shastri noted.
India were in a spot of bother in the morning session as they lost three wickets, adding to the overnight wicket of India captain Rohit Sharma. While Tim Southee got the first wicket on Thursday evening, Santner got two before part-time off-spinner Glenn Phillips got the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal, turning one away from the left-hander.
Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan were once again tasked with the job of rescuing the team after their valiant show in the Bengaluru Test.
India were under pressure after losing the first Test in which they were bundled out for 46 in the first innings. The confidence dip showed in how Indian batters approached the spin-bowling threat from New Zealand on Day 2 morning.