Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra talked about Virat Kohli’s dismissal in the first innings of the ongoing first Test against South Africa in Centurion, saying that he hasn’t seen him bat the same way like he did 2-3 years back.
Virat Kohli’s century drought continued after he threw his wicket away in the first innings of the first Test against South Africa in Centurion.
The Indian Test skipper has failed to hit a century since 2019 and numbers in the longest format of the game in the last two years are not promising as per the player of his caliber.
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The right-hander since 2020 has scored only 599 runs in 13 Test matches at an average of 26.04 and it's fair to say that he has developed a pattern of getting out after a brilliant start.
In the first innings of the ongoing Boxing Day Test against South Africa, Kohli yet again looked very promising in the start, playing some fluent drives. But he invited criticism after he chased a wide-ish half-volley from Lungi Ngidi and only managed an outside edge to see himself back in the hut for his 94-ball 35 runs.
In an interaction with Cricbuzz, Ashish Nehra highlighted that Virat Kohli will be unhappy with his performance against South Africa in the first innings of the Centurion Test as he has the hunger to score hundreds and double hundreds.
“You expect runs from someone like Kohli. He would be unhappy with his performance. But if you look at the stats, Kohli has scored runs in the previous away series in England conditions. He has the hunger to score hundreds and double hundreds and he would be a bit unhappy with himself today,” Ashish Nehra said.
Nehra said that Kohli’s dismissal in the first innings is a bit of concern as South Africa bowlers made him play a loose shot and he has been giving his wickets to bowlers.
He added that Kohli needs to leave the deliveries that are pitched on the fourth stump. He cited the example of KL Rahul who showed great patience and left balls well.
“Looking at the way he’s been dismissed, it’s a bit of concern. South African bowlers made Kohli play a loose shot and this has been a problem lately. Kohli has been giving his wickets to bowlers.
“Looking at today’s dismissal, we understand how Kohli has been out facing swinging deliveries aimed around the fourth stump. In such cases, you need the batter to leave those deliveries; we saw that from KL Rahul today,” he said.
Ashish Nehra remarked that he hasn’t seen Virat Kohli bat the same way like he did 2-3 years back. He quipped that once he gets out of this zone he will be unstoppable as his mentality and understanding of the game will help him score the much-awaited knock.
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“You expect Kohli to play those 135-150 kmph deliveries on the front foot but when the ball starts moving and bounces too, any player would face difficulties. We haven’t seen the Kohli whom we saw 2-3 years back. But once he gets out of this zone, he will be unstoppable.
“But Kohli’s mentality and understanding of the game will help him score that much-awaited knock. He had scored 74 in the Adelaide Test against Australia this year and another such knock isn’t far away,” he said.
Coming to the match, KL Rahul’s unbeaten century put Team India in a commanding position as they ended Day 1 at 272/3 with opener and Ajinkya Rahane unbeaten at the scores of 122 and 40 respectively.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
