Virat Kohli was one of the biggest letdowns as Indian batters struggled on Day 2 of the ICC World Test Championship Final at The Oval. The 34-year-old’s brief stint at the crease came to an end as Mitchell Starc bowled him and caught him in the slips. Kohli was taken aback by Starc’s additional bounce. The ball lifted abruptly, touched the top of his bat, and went directly into Steve Smith’s hands at the second slip. Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, renowned for being outspoken, didn’t hold back while calling out out Kohli’s flaw. Manjrekar said that the ball was pitched at the halfway point, which was not a decent length, when discussing Kohli’s dismissal at a post-match show.
“You shouldn’t be surprised when a short delivery bounces more. Virat Kohli has become a front foot player. He goes onto the front foot every ball. If you look at the pictures carefully and the pitch map also tells us that the Mitchell Starc delivery pitched on the halfway mark, that means it was a short delivery. He tried to move forward to a short delivery. Both of his feet were outside the crease. When you get into this kind of a position and the ball bounces a bit more, then you have no chance,” Manjrekar said on ESPN Cricinfo.
“Run-scoring for Kohli is getting a bit more and more difficult because he is trying to lunge forward irrespective of the ball’s length. The Australian players that got runs in the first innings – Steve Smith and Travis Head – are both backfoot players. So Kohli somewhere down the line has to bring that into his game. Rahane has started doing that,” Manjrekar added.
Manjrekar received accolades from internet users for being technically accurate and forthright while pointing out Virat’s batting errors in the WTC Final.
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