Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are facing heat for letting the team down, resulting in the first-ever Test series defeat against New Zealand at home. Basit warned India of tough times in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy if Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma don’t come up with a better batting display.
Notably, New Zealand beat India by 113 runs in the second Test at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. It was the first Test series loss for India on home soil after 2012 as Rohit Sharma and his men were undone by the Blackcaps who won their first series in India.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma under scanner after dismal performances in series vs India
Some 40 minutes into day two of the second Test in Pune, a huge roar went up at the MCA International Stadium in Pune. It’s not often that such a reaction greets the fall of a home wicket, but the roar wasn’t because Shubman Gill was dismissed. It was more to welcome the man who would take the No. 3’s place at the batting crease.
Virat Kohli is one of India’s all-time greats, a crowd-puller if there was one. As he strode purposefully to the middle with India on 50 for two in response to New Zealand’s 259, the 20,579 fans at the venue hoped to get their money’s worth, believed that the former captain would make their day.
It took only eight minutes for their hopes to be dashed. In that time, it was clear that Virat Kohli had come armed with a smart game plan that involved opening up his stance and placing his left foot outside the leg-stump to take leg before – which is how Gill was dismissed – out of the equation, but Kohli didn’t last long enough to make that minute adjustment count.
The ninth delivery he faced, from New Zealand’s bowling hero Mitchell Santner, was harmlessly floated up, a full toss that Virat Kohli would have creamed through the covers 11 times out of ten at his peak. He hasn’t been at his peak for a while now, but even so, to see him try to swat it through mid-wicket, miss it completely as his bat hit the pitch, and lose middle-stump was scarcely believable.
As he heard the death rattle behind him, Virat Kohli was in shock; Santner experienced the same emotion – ‘He doesn’t usually miss those, usually they go for six’ – and the crowd lapsed into stunned silence, unable to comprehend what was unfolding in front of it.
Virat Kohli was one of nine Indian batters to fall to Kiwi spin on Friday morning, seven to left-arm spinner Santner, two to off-spinner Glenn Phillips. It can happen, of course. Bowlers are there to take wickets, whether they are pacers or spinners. But India have imploded far too often against spin in their own backyard of late for a pattern not to emerge, for whispers about their vulnerability against the turning ball not to gather decibels.
Former Pakistan player Basit Ali said that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are taking cricket for granted and don’t take practice sessions seriously after winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America. The two batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been struggling for runs in the most extended format of the game, and barring one innings each, they have been walking wickets for New Zealand in the first two red-ball matches in Bengaluru and Pune.
Kohli and Sharma are facing heat for letting the team down, resulting in the first-ever Test series defeat against New Zealand at home. Basit warned India of tough times in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy if the two don’t come up with a better batting display.
Basit Ali slams ‘overconfident’ India especially Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after series loss vs New Zealand ahead of 3rd Test
Former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali believes that a lack of concentration is to blame for Team India’s star batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s recent failures. He opined that the two seasoned campaigners have lost focus following the Men in Blue’s 2024 T20 World Cup triumph.
Sharma and Kohli have come under the scanner for failing to score big runs in the first two Tests of India’s ongoing three-match Test series against New Zealand. Suggesting that the two veteran batters must step up and deliver in the team’s upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against Australia, Basit said in a video shared on his YouTube channel :
“There has been a dip in concentration after winning the T20 World Cup for both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Earlier there used to be proper practice before matches but now I feel there are just optional sessions. There is a lack of concentration. They think that if they get out, they will get a big score in the next match. The water has gone above the head now. If these two don’t score runs in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, it will be very tough for India.”
With back-to-back victories in Bengaluru and Pune, New Zealand scripted history by winning their maiden Test series on Indian soil as they gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match rubber. India, on the other hand, suffered their first home Test series defeat in 12 years. Virat Kohli has scored 88 runs across four innings at an average of 22 in the series, while Rohit Sharma has 62 runs to his name from four innings at an average of 15.50.
New Zealand won the first Test by 8 wickets in Bengaluru and the second by 113 runs in Pune. Kohli amassed 88 runs in four innings at an average of 22, while Rohit managed 62 runs at 15.50. Former India player Aakash Chopra also spoke about Virat Kohli’s concerning numbers in Test cricket in the last five years. The veteran has scored just two hundreds. He will be next seen in action in the third Test against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai from November 1.