Michael Vaughan has fully backed India captain Virat Kohli to get that elusive 71st international century while praising his half-century in the first innings of the 4th Test between India and England at the Oval in London.
Kohli’s 50 and Shardul Thakur’s entertaining 57 helped India make a respectable 191 on day one of the fourth Test, as Chris Woakes’ four and Ollie Robinson’s three wickets routed India once more as they were asked to bat first by Joe Root after he won the toss.
Virat Kohli looked his confident self as he left the balls outside off stump and hit drives on the offside with elegance. Vaughan feels that the India captain is going through a phase where he is being penalized for a small error.
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"I thought Virat played beautifully. I think with Virat now, he is playing well enough. I think he is getting penalized for the smallest mistake. He just played across the line, just a little bit and he got penalized. He is just going through one of those periods where one little mistake is costing him,” said Vaughan to Harsha Bhogle at Cricbuzz.
Kohli has now hit two half-centuries in two back-to-back innings and the former England skipper feels that the manner in which the Indian captain is playing, the elusive 71st international ton isn’t far away for the 32-year-old.
He said: “If he continues playing like this or like in the 2nd innings at Headingley, that 100 is right around the corner. I think he might be the difference between the two sides in this Test match because from now on if one individual gets a 100 for their team that team will go on to win the Test match."
Harsha Bhogle asked Vaughan if England’s bowlers have found a template to dismiss the Indian batsman. The former cricketer responded in the affirmative.
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"Yes, I think there is. You see the dismissals of the majority Indian batters, it's a bit like a broken record. It's a similar kind of passing from one Test to the next. On the fourth or fifth stump, bit of movement away, a bit of bounce and you feel that the outside edge will be found,’’ he explained.
Meanwhile, India did bounce back with the ball as Jasprit Bumrah removed both the openers for single-digit scores including a duck for Haseeb Hameed, and then Umesh Yadav scalped the huge wicket of captain Joe Root who made 21 in 25 balls, as England ended the day on 53/3 with Dawid Malan on 26*.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
