Indian cricket team star batter Virat Kohli© AFP
India suffered a late batting collapse after a good show from Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal on Day 2 of the fourth Test match against Australia in Melbourne on Friday. The visitors looked quite comfortable with both Jaiswal and Kohli showing excellent judgement against the Australia bowlers. Jaiswal slammed a gritty half-century while Kohli looked quite solid with India cruising at 153 for the loss of two wickets. However, with 30 minutes left for stumps, Jaiswal was dismissed run-out following a horrible mix-up. It was an unfortunate end to a solid knock and it opened the floodgates for the hosts.
Following Jaiswal’s dismissal, Akash Deep was sent as a nightwatchman but the decision completely backfired. Scott Boland exploited the weakness of the India fast bowler against the back of the length delivery and he was caught by Nathan Lyon without disturbing the scorers.
Even Kohli’s concentration was impacted by Jaiswal’s unfortunate dismissal and he once again ended up edging a delivery outside the off-stump straight to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
During his 36-run innings, Kohli looked in control but his mistake against Boland proved costly as India lost 3 wickets for 6 runs.
Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja were unbeaten but the damage was already done as India were 164/5 at stumps despite a sensational show of batting by both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli.
Meanwhile, Kohli was booed and jeered while walking back to the dressing room after his dismissal in the Boxing Day Test against Australia here, prompting him to turn around for a brief stand-off with the fans on an eventful day for him.
Kohli’s conduct has become a hot topic in the ongoing fourth Test where he shoulder-charged 19-year-old debutant Sam Konstas on the opening day. It resulted in a fine and a demerit point.
On Friday, Kohli batted well for his 36 before being caught behind off Scott Boland.
He was dismissed shortly after a mix-up with Yashasvi Jaiswal resulted in the opener running himself out at 82. As he entered the tunnel leading up to the dressing room, fans in that section of the MCG began booing him and also made some comments in a short clip that has since gone viral.
Kohli strode back after hearing something that was not clearly audible in the 22-second video.
The 36-year-old didn’t seem pleased as he looked at the stands on his left before being escorted back to his original destination by a security personnel.
His face off with Konstas on Thursday was condemned as unnecessary by even former India players.
(With PTI inputs)
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