Delhi: Another match, but same old story. Fans were once again disappointed in the third match of the India vs Australia Test series. The issue of Virat Kohli playing balls outside the off stump has come to the fore again. In the first innings of the third Test being played at Gabba, Brisbane, Kohli chased a wide ball from Josh Hazlewood and gave an easy catch to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
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Only three Test centuries in four years
Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar took a tough stance on this. He said that there was no need for Kohli to play such a ball because it was on the ‘seventh or eighth stump’. Kohli has scored only three Test centuries in the last four years, and this weakness of his has been exposed once again.
This ball of Hazlewood was a little fuller than the length and was quite outside. This ball could have been released easily. But, Kohli tried to drive it and played it too far away from his body. The result was what was expected – the ball hit the outside edge and Carey took an easy catch.
‘Why do you have to hit the ball on the seventh-eighth stump?’
Speaking on Channel 7, Gavaskar said, “It would have been understandable if it was on the fourth stump, but it was on the seventh-eighth stump. There was no need to play it.”
‘Kohli should have shown patience’
The former captain also said that Kohli should have been patient, especially when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill had already been out after playing bad shots. He said, “Kohli will be very disappointed by this, he will be feeling very bad. If he had shown some patience, he would have remained not out with KL Rahul.
In the second test also, Kohli lost his wicket on balls outside the off stump. This problem has been there since the beginning of his career and has been affecting his performance time and again.
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