WATCH: Virat Kohli in utter disbelief after Dhananjaya de Silva traps him for an LBW
The prolonged wait for former Indian captain Virat Kohli’s 71st international hundred continues as the batter failed to make his presence count in the pink-ball Test match in Bengaluru. Earlier, in the game, Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat first. Sri Lankan bowlers exposed India’s frailties as they managed to take wickets at regular intervals.
Virat Kohli who came out to bat at No.4 initially looked quite comfortable at the start. However, things changed drastically just a couple of overs before the tea break. Kohli who was batting on 23 was totally shocked by the behaviour of the pitch.
The incident transpired when the right-arm off-break bowler Dhananjaya de Silva came to bowl the 28th over. After bowling three deliveries, he tossed a shortish length ball in the hope that the ball wouldn’t bounce. As it happened, the bowler largely benefitted from the behaviour of the pitch in the first place.
Virat Kohli in disbelief after Dhananjaya de Silva takes his wicket
The spinner was pleased that the wicket didn’t offer bounce and the ball quickly went on to strike Virat Kohli just above his ankle. Kohli was only trying to play a shot towards the leg side but the ball surprised him and then beat him all ends up. As the ball struck Kohli’s pads plumb, the Sri Lankans appealed in unison.
Watch the video:
https://twitter.com/rishobpuant/status/1502592854765432836
Meanwhile, the on-field umpire had no hesitation at all as he straightaway judged Kohli “out”. Soon after the dismissal, Kohli was surprised by the nature of the pitch as he was shocked for a while before walking off the field. Kohli knew that he was out and hence he didn’t go for a review.
The former Indian skipper departed after scoring 23. Shreyas Iyer was the pick of the batsmen for India as he scored 81 with the help of 10 fours and 3 sixes as India posted 241/9 inside 57 overs.