Published: Feb 11, 2023, 08:00 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 11, 2023, 10:14 AM (IST)
New Delhi: Former Australia captain Ian Chappell was critical of the way star India batter Virat Kohli got dismissed in the first innings of the first Test match against Australia at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. Kohli, was trying to tickle it past the keeper of the bowling of Todd Murphy but in the process got a thin edge and Alex Carey took a brilliant catch down the leg-side.
Talking about the dismissal, Chappell reckoned that Kohli should have never tried to play that shot and instead would have been far better off in trying to push it on the on side to a place where there were no fielders.
“If you play as he suggested (Aakash Chopra) by opening up and keeping your left leg away from your right leg, then you are playing the shot and the keeper cannot see the edge, where as, by him having both of his legs together, his bat was outside his pads. So the keeper, not that I think he did see it in this situation, but he had a far greater chance of taking that catch with the way Kohli played the ball,” said Chappell in ESPNcricinfo’s Match Day Live right after the end of the second day’s play.
“The other thing I will have to say about that Kohli shot is why the hell was he trying to hit it around there. To me he is far better of playing as (Aakash) suggested, opening up the leg side and pushing that ball on to the on side away from the fielder, rather than trying to tickle. I mean, if as a batsman if I got caught in that fine-leg slip position, I will hang myself. Because as a right-hand batsman you should never get caught there. The only place where I would say, you might would be in Perth where the ball bounces a bit and it might catch your gloves or something but you should not get caught in leg slip,” he further said.
India find themselves in a commading position leading into the third day’s play with a lead of 144 runs as Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel brought up their individual fifties in the last session of the second day’s play.
