Virat Kohli failed to live up to the expectations of more than a billion people as he perished early on day five of the ongoing WTC 2023 Final against Australia with India still needing 280 runs at the start of the play at the Oval on June 11, 2023.
Resuming the innings on 164/3, Kohli and Rahane were the two unbeaten overnight batters who came out to the field.
All eyes were on Kohli who was the key for the Indian team if they had to make a game out of this humongous chase of 444 runs. However, it was not to be as Scott Boland utilized whatever life was there in the Oval pitch and got Kohli with a sucker ball.
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Edging outside the fifth stump on the off-side has been the kryptonite for Kohli and Boland bowled the perfect delivery to the Kohli, who had not settled in yet and the senior India batter decided to play an expansive cover drive.
But he only managed to edge it to the second slip, where Steve Smith took a reflexive diving catch to his right and ended Kohli’s knock on 49 runs.
Here is the video:
Boland struck once more two balls later, removing Ravindra Jadeja for a duck, and left India teetering at 179/5.