India vs England: Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli© AFP
Virat Kohli, after battling a rather poor run in recent times by his high standards, scored a decent half-century against England in the third ODI in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. He had missed the first ODI due to injury and had a poor outing in the second match. The third match presented the former India captain a final opportunity to score big ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025, that starts on February 19. Kohli gave early signs of a big score as he hits seven fours and one six on way to slamming a half-century.
Just when it looked like Kohli would go on to score a big one, he was snapped up by Adil Rashid. It was the fifth time Adil Rashid got Virat Kohli out in ODIs. He got him in the second ODI as well. Adil Rashid extracted an outside edge and the ball was caught without any error by Phil Salt.
Seeing the dismissal, former England batter Kevin Pietersen opined that Kohli should not have taken such a front foot stance.
“He shouldn’t be getting out to that ball. He’s a much better player than that. And he will be kicking himself. That ball is bowled slowly through the air. So he shouldn’t have been over-committed on the front foot. He should have played back to it. He should have punched it into the offside, and he would still have been batting and he probably would have gone on to get a big score,” Pietersen said on air after India’s innings ended on 356.
“You can see where it hits from side on angle. That hits the top of the bat. That hits the splice of the bat. Which means that he got his lengths wrong. That’s nowhere near the middle of his bat. Have a look at that.”
Pietersen said Kohli got the length wrong and paid the price.
“That’s where you can see where the ball has made contact with the bat. Look how far forward his bat is in front of his pad. This means he’s got the length wrong and he’s too good a player to get out like that. He shouldn’t be doing it. He shouldn’t be giving Adel Rashid that chance to get his wicket. You watch Joe Root. He will never be over-committed on the front foot like that. No way,” Pietersen said.
The Rohit Sharma-led India restricted England to just 214 and registered a 142 run win. India will not depart for Champions Trophy that starts on February 19.
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