Kohli star failure in India’s fall

Chennai, July 29

Indian Test captain Virat Kohli’s woeful form continued as hosts India A were shot out for a paltry 135 by Australia A on the first day of the second unofficial ‘Test’ match here on Wednesday. 

India A captain Cheteshwar Pujara opted to bat first but it took Australia A only 68.5 overs to bowl out the hosts. Kohli, who was the focus of all attention in this game, struggled badly during his hour-long innings of 16 that came off 42 balls.

In reply, Australia A safely negotiated the final hour, reaching 43 without loss in 13 overs. Cameron Bancroft (24) and Usman Khawaja (13) were the unbeaten batsmen at close of play.

For Australia A, their whole bowling unit executed the plans perfectly. While paceman Gurinder Singh Sandhu (3/25) had the best figures, it was the left-arm spin twins Steve O’Keefe (2/30) and Ashton Agar (2/23) who dealt the telling blows at the top of the Indian batting order. 

Agar, in fact, got the prize scalp of Kohli with an arm ball that Kohli failed to read. It was a delivery that went straight while Kohli neither lunged forward nor went on the backfoot. He was struck on his pad right in front of the wicket. 

It was a frustrating stay at the wicket for the Test captain even though he hit the other left-arm spinner, O’Keefe, for a straight six and got a boundary off Agar. Coming back from a month-long vacation, Kohli looked rusty as he did not seem like reading the bowlers well.

Earlier, India A captain Pujara (11 off 36 balls) and Abhinav Mukund (15, 49 balls) played too slowly as only 18 runs came off the first 10 overs. It was back-up seamer Marcus Stoinis who got Pujara out in a manner that has become familiar with the Saurashtra batsman. He was beaten by an incoming delivery that castled him. 

Karun Nair (50, 153 balls, 5×4) made amends for his failure in the first match but had little support from the other end. Mukund was out trying to cut O’Keefe while Shreyash Iyer (1) misread the line and was bowled. 

Naman Ojha (10) played 84 balls without much success before he lost his cool and was stumped off an Agar delivery. After Nair was out in the post-tea session, caught by Joe Burns off pacer Andrew Fekete, the last five wickets fell for 26 runs in 11.5 overs, with Sandhu wrapping up the tail. — PTI

 Brief scores: India A 135 all out (Karun Nair 50; Gurinder Sandhu 3/25, Ashton Agar 2/23, Steve O'Keefe 2/30); Australia A 43 for no loss 

Longer stint with Virat would have been great: Nair

Karun Nair rued that he missed out on the chance to play alongside Virat Kohli, who “unfortunately got out” cheaply.

“I was hoping to play a bit longer with him but unfortunately he got out. I would have learnt a lot if I had spent more time out there with him. I could have picked up a few things watching him from the other end. I hope I get my chance in the second innings,” said Nair.

Nair said it was not easy to bat on a slow and turning track with the visiting team bowlers coming up with a “disciplined” performance.

“I think the wicket was quite slow and turning a bit. They really bowled very well. It was hard to bat on. We had to take chances to score runs. They were disciplined and patient,” explained Nair.

Nair said it was a huge thing for him to be working with former India captain Rahul Dravid. “It is a good opportunity for anyone, for me it’s huge. He advises us how to handle situations while batting, bowling or fielding,” said Nair. — PTI