WTC Final: Virat Kohli could only add five runs to his overnight score of 44 on Day 5.© AFP
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar came down hard on Virat Kohli following Team India’s humiliating loss to Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final on Sunday. Kohli could only add five runs to his overnight score of 44 as Scott Boland sparked Team India’s batting collapse. Boland exploited Kohli’s Achilles heel as he lured him to play a cover drive. On any other day, Kohli would have opted to play against the shot but this time he couldn’t control his desire to play his beloved shot. He went for the shot but only found a thick edge towards the slip, Steve Smith dived low to his right to take a stunning catch.
While analysing the match, Gavaskar fumed over Kohli’s dismissal as he slammed the former India captain for his shot-selection.
“It was a pretty ordinary shot. Outside the off stump. He was leaving till then. Maybe he was conscious that he needed one run to reach his half century. It happens when you are nearing a milestone.” said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
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“It happened to Jadeja. He played a delivery he shouldn’t have when he was (on) 48. Happened to Ajinkya Rahane who was on 46. He hadn’t played that shot all this while. Suddenly why do you play that shot? Because you are aware of that landmark.”
“It was a bad shot. You should ask Kohli what shot he played. He talks so much about how to win a match you need a long innings. How are you going to do that if you play a ball so far outside the off stump?,” he added.
Chasing a mammoth target of 444, Team India lost seven wickets in an extended morning session at The Oval as Australia won the match by 209 runs.
Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur once again tried to string up a partnership to keep India’s innings from falling apart. But their desperate counterattack came to an end as Rahane lost his wicket to Mitchell Starc. His dismissal was similar to Kohli, an unneeded shot that carried comfortably behind the stumps. Rahane’s fairytale return to the Indian Test team came to an end with a score of 46(108).
Thakur fell in the next over for a five-ball duck as Nathan Lyon was introduced into the attack. Umesh Yadav and KS Bharat survived for a few overs.
But Umesh didn’t have an answer to deal with Starc’s lethal pace bowling attack. Yadav walked back to the pavilion with a score of 1.
With an inevitable defeat on the cards, Mohammad Shami entertained the crowd by picking up two consecutive boundaries. Siraj Tried to do the same with a reverse sweep shot, but the ball landed straight into the hands of Boland.
(With PTI Inputs)
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