The way Virat Kohli was removed in the first innings of the first Test Match between India and Australia that was played at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur drew harsh criticism from former Australian captain Ian Chappell. A delivery outside the leg stump that was spinning as the former Indian captain attempted to flick the ball past Alex Carey resulted in a small nick that went straight to the wicketkeeper, who successfully caught it on the second attempt. Chappell stated that Kohli should have never attempted to poke at the delivery down the leg or at the very least, should have tried to push it down the leg side where there were plenty of spaces when speaking about the dismissal.
“If you play as he suggested (Aakash Chopra) by opening up and keeping your left leg away from your right leg, then you are playing the shot and the keeper cannot see the edge, whereas, by him having both of his legs together, his bat was outside his pads. So the keeper, not that I think he did see it in this situation, but he had a far greater chance of taking that catch with the way Kohli played the ball,” said Chappell in Espen Cricinfo’s Match Day Live right after the end of the second day’s play.
“The other thing I will have to say about that Kohli shot is why the hell was he trying to hit it around there? To me he is far better off playing as (Aakash) suggested, opening up the leg side and pushing that ball on the side away from the fielder, rather than trying to tickle. I mean, if as a batsman if I got caught in that fine-leg slip position, I will hang myself. Because as a right-hand batsman, you should never get caught there. The only place where I would say, you might be in Perth where the ball bounces a bit and it might catch your gloves or something but you should not get caught in leg slip,” he further said.
With 321/7 on the board and a gigantic lead of 144 runs following a spectacular century from Rohit Sharma and tough yet elegant half-centuries from Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, India is in a dominant position at stumps on Day 2. On Day 3 of the first Test, Australia will have a mountain to climb and will try to sweep up the tail and get their innings off to a good, flowing start.
