Chappell stated that Kohli should never have attempted a delivery down the leg side.
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell was extremely critical of Virat Kohli’s dismissal in the first innings of India’s first Test match against Australia at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. The former Indian captain attempted to flick the ball past Alex Carey to a delivery spinning away from the leg stump and got a thin nick that went straight to the wicketkeeper, who grabbed it on the second attempt.
When asked about the dismissal, Chappell stated that Kohli should never have tried to poke the delivery down the leg and instead should have pushed it towards the leg side where there were ample gaps.
“If you play as he suggested (Aakash Chopra) by opening up and keeping your left leg separate from your right leg, you are playing the shot and the keeper cannot see the edge, whereas his bat was outside his pads when he had both legs together. So the keeper, not that I believe he saw it in this situation, but with the way Kohli played the ball, he had a far better chance of catching it “Chappell stated
“Another thing I’ll have to say about Kohli’s shot is why the hell was he trying to hit it so close? Rather than trying to tickle, he is far better off playing as (Aakash) suggested, opening up the leg side and pushing that ball on to the on side away from the fielder. I mean, if I got caught in that fine-leg slip position as a batsman, I’d hang myself. Because you should never be caught there as a right-handed batsman. The only exception would be in Perth, where the ball may bounce and catch your gloves or something, but you should not get caught in a leg slip.”
After a sensational century from Rohit Sharma and gritty yet graceful half-centuries from Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, India are in a commanding position at stumps on Day 2 with 321/7 on the board and a massive lead of 144 runs. On Day 3 of the first Test, Australia will face a mountain to climb in order to clean up the tail and begin their innings on a positive, free-flowing note.
