Virat Kohli returned with poor scores of 1 and 17 during the second Test match against New Zealand at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. In his first innings, the right-handed batter was dismissed in an embarrassing manner. Kohli was cleaned up for one run off nine balls by left-arm orthodox spinner Mitchell Santner as he missed a full toss delivery while trying to work it on the leg side. Not only the batter himself, but the commenators and the fans were also left in shock over mode of the dismissal. Reacting to it, former Australia cricketer Brad Hogg has said that Kohli was not in control of his emotions during his short stay at the crease.
“They took New Zealand too lightly and they are trying to play catch-up cricket. All of a sudden, you saw that mindset shift with Virat Kohli in the first innings of the second Test. He was more aggressive, the way he strolled out there, the way that he was trying to attack the bowling. He looked as if he overanalyzing, he wasn’t in control of his emotions and it showed in the shot that he played when he got out,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
Unexpectedly fallen behind 0-2 in a home series, the Indian team has adopted some desperate measures to improve its batters’ outing against spot-on New Zealand bowlers, especially the spinners, as talks about a rank-turner for the third Test at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai has dominated the pre-match talks.
The net session at the venue reflected the state of urgency the team management is in ahead of the final Test beginning on Friday, as even veteran batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have found the going tough in this rubber.
Ahead of the nets, they asked the staff to draw extended white lines along off and leg stumps at four practice nets, an exercise generally aimed at keeping batters aware of the line and lengths.
In the first Test at Bengaluru, the vaunted Indian batting line-up succumbed to the probing line and bounce, and in the second match at Pune they were outwitted by left-arm spinner Santner, who took 13 wickets across two innings.
More than the conventional spin, the Indian batters had no solution to Santner’s deliveries that pitched on the same spot at the MCA Stadium track but offered different results – some turning away while some straightening up.
So, it was clear that head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted his batters to enter the final Test with better preparation.
(With PTI Inputs)
