Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli’s miscommunication which resulted in the latter’s run-out was the biggest talking point after the first day’s play in the pink-ball Test between India and Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
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Team India were looking pretty settled at 188/3 with Kohli batting 74 not out and building towards what would've been a memorable hundred.
However, a terrible mix-up saw a premature end to the Indian captain’s resilient knock after being called in for a quick run by Rahane, who did realise his mistake immediately and gestured in apology to the man.
From a solid position, visitors ended the day placed vulnerably at 233/6.
Reflecting on the run-out, former India batsman-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar said Kohli will feel the sting of that dismissal for a while.
Manjrekar was also surprised to see the Indian skipper not losing his cool after the run-out.
“I was amazed that Virat Kohli kept his composure. He was set, he was beginning to accelerate. This is a guy who comes to Adelaide and gets hundreds. So he must have visualised by that time that there was another daddy hundred along the way. People look at this fame, fortune and the life he has, but I tell you he will spend tonight and tomorrow morning thinking what could have been if had it not happened. Completely his partner’s fault,” he said on the Extraaa Innings Show on the Sony Sports Network.
“You look at it again and again. There’s nothing there to suggest that maybe Virat Kohli shouldn’t have backed up so much. He was doing the right thing. Ajinkya Rahane did the right thing by apologising, maybe that’s what helped calm Kohli immediately. And he just put his head down and walked with a little bit of a disgust. Those are the painful moments that compensate for all the other perks you get from the game.”
The run-out also had an effect on Rahane, who was dismissed for 42 just three overs after the captain’s wicket.
“It was evident on Ajinkya Rahane and the way he got out, that there was no run in it. He’s too close and all he did was take a step to his left. And Virat Kohli had no chance. Kohli doing the right thing, he had no business to look back. And Rahane knew what he had done. Bad feeling to run Virat Kohli out when he’s batting in such great fashion,” Manjrekar remarked.
