After the Australian team getting bundled out for 326 in their first innings at Perth, India got off to a horrible start as KL Rahul and Murali Vijay were castled by Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc respectively. Like many other times, again the responsibility was on the Indian skipper Virat Kohli to resurrect the innings. The task wasn’t expected to be easy for the 30-year-old as the red cherry was troubling the batsmen consistently.
However, Kohli has the prowess to thrive on in such situations. India, at one point in time, were reeling at 8/2 in 5.1 overs. Nevertheless, Virat had other plans and he laid into Hazlewood and the counterattack somewhat came as a surprise to the Aussies. The run-machine smacked three boundaries off the fast bowler and kick-started his knock.
In the first ball of the 10th over, Hazlewood tried to bowl a Yorker, but it turned out to be a half-volley. Kohli was almost beaten as the ball threatened to sneak in through his bat and pad. He met the ball underneath his eyes and the ball sped away to the boundary between mid-on and mid-wicket. The fielder chased the leather, however, he gave up the chase soon after.
WATCH – Hazlewood Baffled Rahul With A Fiery Yorker
On the second ball, Josh tried to change his length and dished out a full-pitched delivery. Considering the playing conditions, it was a decent ball and playing a stroke would’ve been risky, but if a batsman has the ability like Virat Kohli, then he can play a drive through mid-off. The fielder patrolling that region made a valiant effort to stop the ball with a dive, but his efforts went in vain.
The ball afterward was on the pads and Kohli pounced on it yet again. Hazlewood bowled it full and the Virat’s agitated after seeing the ball. The stroke was pretty similar to the first boundary. The fielder had no chance whatsoever to stop the ball from going to the boundary. India would’ve breathed a sigh of relief as they needed someone to inject momentum in the innings.
Here is the video:
https://twitter.com/drv05dt18/status/1073814536543657984
