Michael Vaughan expects Indian skipper Virat Kohli to end his run drought with one or two centuries in the ongoing Test series against England.
Virat Kohli last recorded a Test ton in November 2019 against Bangladesh. Although not a lot of cricket was played in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 32-year-old failed to score a single international hundred. It was the first such instance of Kohli going a full year without a century since making his international debut in 2008.
In the ongoing Chennai Test, Virat Kohli looked more defensive than usual and got out for just 11 runs to Dom Bess. Interacting with Cricbuzz, Vaughan backed Kohli to regain his form, but called the Indian captain’s dismissal ‘weak’ for a batsman of his stature.
“I won’t be too concerned and I’m sure he isn’t concerned. Throughout the series, he will get 1-2 hundreds. I have no question about that, The manner of his dismissal today was weak for Virat Kohli. He defended the ball outside the off-stump with an angled bat facing towards wide extra cover. There is nothing in that shot. As a young kid playing the game, you don’t defend an off-spinner outside off stump because you want to be keeping the face of the bat towards the ball. You play with an angled bat, and if there’s bounce, it goes to short leg. So technically, it wasn’t a great dismissal for Virat Kohli,” said Michael Vaughan.
Reeling at 73-4, the pair of Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara revived the Indian innings. Washington Sundar (85*) gave the final push, but the hosts could only score 337 runs, 241 short of England’s first innings total.
“I am surprised Virat Kohli just let Dom Bess bowl” – Michael Vaughan
Dom Bess was the best bowler for England, with the off-spinner returning with figures of 4-76. Michael Vaughan said he expected Virat Kohli to be more proactive and dominating against the unfledged spinner.
“I would have expected Kohli to dance down early to Bess. ‘I’m Virat Kohli, I know how to play in these conditions, against a young off-spinner and I’m going to put you under pressure. I was surprised that he just let him bowl. He was hoping for bad balls and hoped he may get one or two,” Vaughan said.
The former England skipper further added in this regard:
“I thought he was just trying to play today. I know that sounds simple. I think Virat’s a better player when he comes out trying to be aggressive. When his feet are moving and he’s looking to dance down to the spinners to put them under pressure. You’ve got to remember that Virat Kohli is facing Dominic Bess. He’s a work in progress. He’s young, he’s inexperienced. He’s got great character but this is Kohli against Bess.”
It remains to be seen if Virat Kohli manages to score an international century in more than a year in Team India’s second innings.
Published 08 Feb 2021, 12:35 IST
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