“He Wasn’t Able To…”: India Legend Dissects Virat Kohli’s Dismissal By Mitchell Starc | Cricket News

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar pointed out what went wrong with Virat Kohli during his dismissal in the ongoing World Test Championship final on Thursday. A bouncing short ball from Mitchell Starc hit the shoulder of Kohli’s bat and went into the hands of Steve Smith at second slip during India’s first innings against Australia in the summit clash. Gavaskar opined that batting on the backfoot would have helped Kohli in playing such a delivery as it would have given him time to decide whether to leave the ball or play it.

“Because of the fact that there are only two bouncers allowed per over nowadays, most of the batters are on to the front foot which means that they are not able to get on to the backfoot and give themselves that extra yard where you could have probably dropped your wrist or let the ball go. Yes, it was a tough delivery because he was committed on to the front foot, his weight was so much on the front foot that he wasn’t able to withdraw his bat at the last moment,” said Gavaskar in Star Sports.

India’s top-order performed poorly to see the side getting reduced to 71 for 4. Rohit Sharma (15), Shubman Gill (13), Cheteshwar Pujara (14) and Kohli (14) failed to make an impact. This happened after the Indian bowlers made a good comeback on Day 2 to bundle out Australia for 469.

“The Indian bowlers did a superb job, no question about it. But today (Thusday), I think the batters had to stand up. And on a pitch like this, I think they should have stood up,” added the India great.