Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar remarked that Indian skipper Virat Kohli would be disappointed after he missed out on a century in the second ODI against England in Pune.
Virat Kohli’s century drought continued as Indian skipper once again failed to convert his half century into a hundred.
Coming into bat in the fourth over against England in the second ODI, Indian skipper Virat Kohli carved his way through his 62nd half century- second consecutive in the ongoing series.
After being dropped by Jos Buttler in the 22nd over, Virat Kohli was expected to make the most of that opportunity but the Indian skipper was still unable to get to a hundred as he nicked a delivery off leg-spinner Adil Rashid behind the stumps for 66 runs.
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Speaking on Star Sports during the mid-innings break, former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar said that Indian skipper would be disappointed after missing out on a century. He added that batsman of Virat Kohli's caliber will always go on to get three-figures after scoring 60-odd runs.
"Well, he will be disappointed to an extent. Because when you are batting so well, have done the hard work, you have got to 60. The batsman of that caliber of that greatness will always go on to get three-figure innings. He hasn't been able to quite get that," Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
Virat Kohli’s innings of 66 runs was crucial for Team India as they lost both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan early. The skipper stitched important 121 runs partnership with KL Rahul and laid the foundation for other batters to finish the innings on high.
While taking about the same, Sunil Gavaskar said that Virat Kohli indeed would be happy to build a partnership with Rahul and help his team get a platform on which likes Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant can play big shots and post a respectable total.
"He (Kohli) will be happy that he is building a partnership. That England, despite getting early wickets have not been able to go through the batting line-up. He is helping the team get a platform on which the likes of Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Krunal Pandya can play the big shots and take India past 300," he said.
Gavaskar said that although Kohli is making crucial contributions for the team, he will be disappointed with not being able to make his half-centuries count.
"He is making his contribution as a batsman, no question about it. But there will still be a little bit of disappointment. Every batsman has that. If you get out for 5, 6 in the early stages, you know you got out. You can't do much.
"But when you get to 50-60, every batsman in the world wants to get to a hundred. Great batsmen want to get a big 100, and he is not getting it. So he will be a little bit disappointed for sure," he concluded.
Virat Kohli last scored an international century in November 2019 against Bangladesh in a Test match. His last ODI century came against West Indies in August 2019.
The three-match ODI series between India and England stands at 1-1 with decider to be played on 28th March at Pune.
(Star Sports inputs)
