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Twitter Reacts After India Squander Advantage After Virat Kohli's Run-Out On Day 01

By Yash Mittal

Updated - 17 Dec 2020, 08:21 PM

India, Australia, Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli after getting run-out [Photo-Twitter]

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A tragic run-out of skipper Virat Kohli in the last hour of the third session ensured India squandered all the advantage that they had gained thanks to an 88-run-stand between him and Ajinkya Rahane, ensuring that Australia finished the first day on top at the Adelaide Oval.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, India couldn’t have got off to the worst possible start as they did. Prithvi Shaw registered a second-ball duck courtesy what could one say was a poor stroke as he inside-edged a good length delivery from Mitchell Starc to middle-stump in an attempt to cover-drive it.

India, Australia, Prithvi Shaw, Ricky Ponting
Prithvi Shaw gets knocked over [Photo-Twitter]
The next set of 10 overs saw the Indian duo of Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara go through a stern examination as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood relentlessly probed away on and around the off-stump.

Both Pujara and Mayank, however, left the ball brilliantly outside the off-stump. The duo also went on to cash-in on anything that was pitched up in their arc. Starc resorted to the leg-slip ploy against Pujara and very nearly succeeded as the Indian No.3 just about managed to flick the ball wide off a diving Nathan Lyon.

India, Australia
Pat Cummins knocks over Mayank Agarwal [Photo-Twitter]
But just as it looked like India have weathered the storm, Pat Cummins struck against the run-of-play as he knocked over Mayank Agarwal courtesy a scrambled seam-delivery; one that jagged back in after pitching to dislodge his stumps at the start of the 18th over.

Virat Kohli [5* off 22] and Cheteshwar Pujara [17* off 88] ensured that India did not lose any further wickets as the visitors ended the session at 2/41.

Australia nearly got the prized scalp of Virat Kohli straight after the dinner break when Pat Cummins got one to jag back off the deck with bounce to kiss the Indian captain’s gloves, only for the ball to fall short of FSL Matthew Wade.

Pat Cummins was absolutely relentless in his line and lengths. The champion fast bowler gave absolutely nothing away and kept asking tough questions from Pujara and Virat. He once again troubled Kohli with a pacy delivery; one that jagged back in and at bounce and all Virat could manage was to awkwardly fend it to short fine-leg.

India, Australia
Cheteshwar Pujara [Photo-Twwitter]
Pujara, on the other end, continued to do what he does best: grind it out and wear down the bowlers. He once again crossed the 100-delivery mark as India slowly nudged past their 50.

 

Virat Kohli’s imperious 74 helped India consolidate after Pujara’s dismissal before a horror run-out turned the tide in Australia’s favor

Kohli and Pujara used their feet consistently against Nathan Lyon. Kohli stroked Lyon over his head for a boundary while Pujara too looked to use his feet in a bid to unsettle the off-spinner, even as he had a few close calls at FSL and silly point. Lyon, with his over-spin, looked threatening every ball that he delivered.

Kohli survived a close caught-behind call in the 36th overs bowled by Nathan Lyon when he seemed to have gloved him in an attempt to deflect the ball towards fine-leg. Paine appealed vociferously but was talked out of not taking the DRS. The hotspot showed a faint mark on the gloves.

India, Australia
Virat Kohli [Photo-Twitter]
The duo continued to survive a few closed calls before they brought up their 5th consecutive 50+ stand in Australia. Pujara finally scored his first boundary on his 148th delivery and he followed it up with another one-off Nathan Lyon to move to 40.Lyon eventually had the last laugh as Pujara inside-edged Marnus Labuschagne at backward short-leg as India slipped to 3-100 in the 50th over. India went into the break with the score reading 3-107 after 55 overs.Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli showed brilliant intent in the final session as the duo stitched an 88-run-stand for the 4th wicket.

India, Australia
Virat Kohli gets run-out after a horror call from Ajinkya Rahane [Photo-Twitter]
Virat Kohli looked imperious as he brought up yet another half-century but just as it looked like the King was zeroing on his 4th hundred at the Adelaide Oval, a bad call for a single by Ajinkya Rahane led to his downfall.And, to make it even worse for Rahane, he got trapped plumb in front thanks to Mitchell Starc as India slipped from 3-188 to 5-196. Hanuma Vihari followed suit after being trapped in front of wickets by Josh Hazlewood as India slipped further. However, Ashwin and Saha ensured that India did not lose further wickets, eventually ending the day at 6/233.

Here’s how Twitter reacted-

https://twitter.com/im_yash2307/status/1339464328311803904?s=19

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