Tamim Iqbal analyses Virat Kohli’s wicket. (Photo Source: Jio Cinema)
Virat Kohli’s return to red-ball cricket after eight months didn’t turn out to be a memorable one as he was dismissed for six on Day 1 of the first Test between India and Bangladesh on Thursday, September 19.
Kohli faced just five balls before going for an expansive drive away from his body against Hasan Mahmud but the ball went off the outside edge and into the hands of wicketkeeper Litton Das. Against the moving ball, Kohli’s shot selection left a lot to be desired.
Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal said that Kohli wanted to have a feel of the delivery as he was returning to Test cricket after a long time. The former noted that the mode of dismissal makes the Bangladeshi analyst look like a magician.
“Virat’s coming back to Test cricket after a while, so he wants to build back by feeling the ball. It happens to everyone. We have all played the game. We understand that, at times, you want to feel the ball. And I think that particular area where he got out, he has been dismissed a lot of times. This was a dismissal that made the analyst look like a magician. It was a very well-planned delivery, and Virat fell for it,” Tamim remarked while speaking on Sports18 during the lunch break.
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Maybe in the second innings, you’ll see him leaving that ball outside off-stump: Parthiv Patel
Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel agreed with Iqbal during the same broadcast, saying that after a long break, batters tend to chase deliveries they would have otherwise left alone. Patel said that these things happen to the greatest of batters and backed Kohli to coming out with a better plan in the second innings.
“Tamim mentioned Virat Kohli coming back after a long time, to be precise, 556 days since his last Test innings in India. Sometimes, after a long break, you want to feel the ball on your bat, and that can lead to these kinds of dismissals,” Patel said.
“Maybe in the second innings, you’ll see him leaving that ball outside off-stump. When you’re out of practice for a while, this happens. But if the ball had hit the middle of the bat, we might have seen a completely different Kohli in this innings itself. It can happen to the greatest. Everyone’s been there,” he added.