WATCH: Rohit Sharma suffers the wrath of Virat Kohli brain-fade
BCCI
Despite being one of the fastest and agile cricketers around, Virat Kohli has shown poor communication skills with his batting partners in the last few years. This was on show in Bengaluru yet again as Kohli’s miscommunication on the field resulted in Peter Handscomb running Rohit Sharma out.
Virat Kohli is amongst one of the fastest runners between the wickets and one of the most alert cricketers on the field, but of late, his that quality has come under severe scrutiny. For the second time in the series, the Indian skipper’s misjudgment resulted in his partner’s dismissal. The first incident occurred in the Eden ODI, when due to Kohli’s miscommunication, Ajinkya Rahane, who seemed to be in flawless touch, lost his wicket.
Today, Rohit and Rahane got the Indian run chase off to a perfect start but lost Rahane in the 19th over. With Kohli and Sharma at the crease, the Indian fans would have been confident that the chase wouldn’t be a difficult affair for the hosts. However, Kohli decided to recreate the 2013 Chinnaswamy debacle.Â
In the 23rd over, Kohli punched a short of length delivery, bowled by Kane Richardson, behind backward point, where Steve Smith flew to his left and stopped the ball with a brilliant dive. Sensing there was a run on offer, the Indian skipper started to run but on seeing his counterpart stop the ball, he decided to take a U-turn and returned to the crease. Kohli’s late change in mind left Sharma with a very little time to return to the crease as the duo at that point of time were stranded on one side. Smith’s throw at the striker's end missed by a whisker. However, Handscomb collected the ball overthrow and threw the ball to the bowler’s end where Kane Richardson did the rest without any problem that saw Sharma taking a long way back to the pavilion.
Until then, Sharma seemed to be in very good nick and was hitting sixes with ferocity and could be a better bet than his skipper given Chinnaswamy’s smaller boundaries. Kohli’s decision to save himself, at the cost of his partner's wicket, didn’t also prove to be a fruitful one as the Indian skipper was dismissed by a brilliant length delivery by Nathan Coulter-Nile in the 25th over.
