IND vs AUS: "I Wasn't Sledging His Batting" - Mark Waugh Clarifies His Comments On Virat Kohli

Mark Waugh stirred several eyebrows while commentating on the first two Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests between India and Australia. His on-air spats, albeit in good spirits, with fellow commentators Ravi Shastri and Dinesh Karthik sparked some controversy, and it is thought that this may have contributed to the BCCI not extending Waugh’s contract for the two remaining Tests and instead replacing him with Mitchell Johnson in Indore.

Besides the verbal spats, Mark Waugh had also criticised Virat Kohli’s catching in Nagpur, where the former India skipper had three catches. Kohli dropped Steve Smith when he was batting on six in the first innings and grassed a chance for David Warner and Peter Handscomb in the second. Mark Waugh was a little harsh in his evaluation of Kohli, which aroused the wrath of fans.

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I Was Sledging Virat Kohli’s Fielding: Mark Waugh

“Fielding at slip off the spinners, you got to judge the depth you want to stand. I felt that the catch that Kohli put down, he was rushed into taking the catch. I think there are a few technical things that Kohli can work on. I think his feet are too wide apart. His weight is often on the back of heels rather than on his feet. Sometimes, he looks like he is not expecting the ball. He has got to be expecting the ball every single delivery,” the former Australia opener had said on Star Sports.

Mark Waugh, on the other hand, said that while he questioned the catching, he never criticized or commented on Kohli’s batting. In fact, Waugh believed Kohli’s 44-ball knock in Delhi was the finest and most assured he’d looked in recent Tests.

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“I wasn’t sledging his batting. I was sledging his catching, which he did improve actually. He worked hard on it. But I cannot believe that Virat Kohli hasn’t scored a century in 39 innings,” Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket.

“The way he has batted and even his catching it shows that he has felt the pressure, no doubt about it. He is a great player so he is not used to not scoring runs but I did feel like that in Delhi he was getting back to his best.”

Former Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was seated with Mark Waugh in the Fox studios, and he believes this is the perfect time for Kohli to surge back to his best. Kohli has succeeded against Australia, and after missing out on an opportunity in the first innings in the Indore Test, scoring a calm 22, Haddin believes Virat can grab a huge one in the next three innings of the BGT.

“He’s started to look ok in the Test match in India. He got undone by a beautiful bit of bowling from Todd Murphy but he came down the wicket, took the spinners on and he looks like he is ready to explode, for that big score. We know he likes playing against us so maybe this is the opportunity,” he said.

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