Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels Virat Kohli could have handled Mitchell Starc better in the ongoing World Test Championship final against Australia at The Kennington Oval in London. The veteran India batter was dismissed by the Aussie pacer off a brilliant delivery, on Thursday, June 8 during the second day of the summit clash.
Virat Kohli came out to bat early after India lost both their openers, with 30 runs on the board. Soon Cheteshwar Pujara was dismissed, by Cameron Green. Virat Kohli along with Ajinkya Rahane had the responsibility of steadying the Indian batting order. However, he could manage just 14 runs in the innings. In the nineteenth over, Mitchell Starc bowled an off-cutter, which got extra bounce off the wicket. Virat Kohli tried to play at the delivery but was surprised by the bounce. The ball took the shoulder of the bat, clipped the gloves, and was caught by Steve Smith.
Analysing the dismissal, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar expressed that Virat Kohli should have played it off the back foot. He said on Star Sports,
“You could have looked again, today because of the fact that there are only two bouncers per over, most batters are onto the front foot. This means they are not able to get onto the backfoot and give themselves the extra yard. You could have probably let the ball go by dropping your wrists”.
“Yes, it was a tough delivery because he was so committed to the front foot that he was not able to withdraw his bat at the last moment. If he had been on the back foot. It looked like an unplayable ball. But if he had been on the back foot, he would have been able to drop his wrists,” he added.
Sunil Gavaskar dissects Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill’s dismissal
Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also spoke about Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill. The duo misjudged outside off-stump deliveries and were clean-bowled. Shubman Gill left an outside-off delivery from Scott Boland, which nipped inwards to rattle the stumps. Meanwhile, Pujara was dismissed in a similar fashion by Cameron Green. Talking about their dismissal, Sunil Gavaskar said,
“Yes, they could have possibly not had their bats high up in the air. One of the essentials of batting in England is to play the ball as late as possible.”
“So, it means, if you are looking to play the ball as late as possible, your bat is nearer to the ball, not up in the air. Because it was up in the air, they allowed the ball to go through. With the bat up in the air, they were not able to bring it down when the ball nipped in,” he added.
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