Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has stated that he is worried about the lack of runs from Virat Kohli’s bat. Kohli managed only 13 runs in India’s second innings on Day 2 of the ongoing pink-ball Test in Bengaluru as well. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra opined on India’s second innings batting performance.
He said, “I am slightly worried about Virat Kohli. We are not talking about his runs but everything else, like how he is playing, what sort of shot he played but the runs are not coming. He played a fuller delivery on the back foot, it was an error of judgment, first innings and second innings. In the first innings, the ball did stay a little low but in the second the ball was supposed to be played off the front foot.”
However, Kohli was trapped in front of the wickets in both innings of the Bengaluru Test. Aakash Chopra added that Kohli misjudging the length of deliveries has become the norm nowadays.
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He observed: “If we see the first match as well, he played a fuller delivery off the back foot, when the ball went and hit the stumps. If an error of judgment is happening, there is an issue. It is not okay if we are talking about his attitude or relaxed behavior. Virat Kohli’s talk should be with his runs. If we are not talking with his runs, then things are not okay, honestly speaking, let’s say things as they are.”
Aakash Chopra has also said that Mayank Agarwal has wasted his opportunities at the top of the order in the ongoing Test series. Agarwal managed only 22 runs in India’s second innings on Day 2. He aggregated 59 runs across his three innings in the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
He stated: “Mayank Agarwal is wasting his opportunities. You didn’t play well in Kanpur, it was being felt that you might not play in Mumbai but got to play because of injuries and scored a lot of runs, which is fantastic. Then you go to South Africa, you play one good knock and then the situation becomes topsy-turvy. You come to India and get out in the first match and both innings here. KL Rahul is sitting out, you have not scored those many runs that when the next Test match happens and KL Rahul is available, you are played.”
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“It is going to be a problem. It was a chance, you have let it go. There were better chances to score runs in Mohali but that didn’t happen. Here the conditions were slightly difficult – you got run out in the first innings and got dismissed in the second innings. So I am slightly concerned about Mayank Agarwal but I am extremely impressed with Rohit Sharma. Although he scored only 46 runs but that is a lot of runs on this pitch, it is like 86 on any other pitch. The way he played was absolutely sensational, he had a game plan,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
