Kohli was disciplined in his approach for the most part of his 86-ball knock.
The age-old problem of fishing outside the off stump has led to Kohli’s downfall and it came back to haunt him on Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test at MCG.
While Kohli was disciplined in his approach for the most part of his 36-run knock off 86 balls, he eventually ended up chasing a wide delivery from Scott Boland, giving a simple catch to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Kohli not converting the start into a big score shocked Australian star Steve Smith, who felt that a ‘masterclass’ from the former’s bat was inevitable.
“He is a class player, we know that. He played really well in Perth, and he looked really good today. I thought he was in for a big one today,” Smith told reporters after the second day’s play.
“It [the dismissal] was probably the first ball he played in that fifth-sixth stump line. He was really disciplined today, leaving nicely, making the bowlers come to him a bit, scoring well through the leg-side, and when we went short. Thought we were in for a [Virat] masterclass today.
“Fortunately, Boland got one to straighten on that fifth-sixth line, and it was one of the very few deliveries [outside off-stump] that Virat played today,” he added.
It was a special day for Smith as he notched up his 34th Test hundred, drawing level with the likes of Brian Lara, Sunil Gavaskar, Younis Khan, and Mahela Jayawardene on the all-time list.
Smith's remarkable innings of 140 off 197 balls also marked his 11th Test ton against India – the most by any batter. He left behind England’s Joe Root (10 hundreds v India) behind in this list.
Only one Australian player has more Test centuries than Smith, with former captain Ricky Ponting (41) now just seven centuries ahead of the right-hander.
While Steve Smith admitted that it was nice to create records, he insisted that he does not play the game for numbers’ sake.
“The numbers aren’t very important to me. I love playing, I love scoring runs and helping the team. Getting to milestones along the way is cool, but it’s not the reason I play [the sport],” he said.
Smith was effusive in praise of the 19-year-old debutant Sam Konstas, who played audacious strokes on the first day to unsettle the India pacers, especially Jasprit Bumrah.
“You gotta have some serious courage to do what he did yesterday,” Smith said of Konstas.
“That first over Bumrah beat him three or four times and I actually thought Sam [Konstas] played it really well, played down the line. For a kid to have the confidence to start lapping and reverse-lapping, arguably one of the best bowlers to have played the game, shows some serious confidence and courage in the kid.
“That swung momentum our way. [Chief selector] George [Bailey] said that we wanted to show something different against the new ball and we certainly saw that yesterday.”
Coming to the Melbourne Test, India found themselves in a tough spot at 164/5 by the end of the second day’s play, trailing Australia in the first innings by 310 runs with only five wickets remaining.
The visitors will now hope that Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and the remaining batters rise to the occasion on the third day and keep their hopes alive against a formidable Australian attack.