WTC Final: Virat Kohli fails to walk the talk, flops in summit clash vs favourite foes Australia

When Virat Kohli played an expansive drive to a wide delivery from Scott Boland on Day 5 of the World Test Championship final, there was a collective disappointment.

The former captain was dejected after having missed a golden opportunity to carry on and build on a good start in the final innings. The hopes of India saving the Test on the final day took a huge blow and the fear of the big wicket leading to a collapse cropped up.

Before Virat Kohli threw his bat at the tempter from Scott Boland and fell prey to what looked like a well-thought-out plan from Australia, he was batting with incredible control, reminding fans and former India head coach Ravi Shastri of the vintage Virat Kohli who battled it out and scored big in England in 2018.

However, the loose shot and the subsequent dismissal sucked the hopes away after Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had kept India afloat with an 86-run stand for the 4th wicket in the final innings.

“Virat Kohli’s dismissal today was the second widest ball he has gotten out to against pace since 2018 in England. According to our Expected Wickets model, the wicket ball had only a 2 percent chance of creating a dismissal,” according to cricket data analytics provider Cricviz.

The Indian fans, who had tuned in on Sunday afternoon, certainly did not expect Virat Kohli to fall prey to such a tempter after having played with so much composure on the 4th day when the team needed its biggest batting star to step up.

IPL HANGOVER?

Virat Kohli’s shot seemingly was from a man who had T20 hangover and from someone who had very little recent exposure to the red ball in English conditions. In fact, Kohli was among the first batch of India’s World Test Championshp-bound players who arrived in England after the IPL 2023 season.

Virat Kohli, no doubt, was mentally preparing for the summit clash of the World Test Championship against Australia during the IPL 2023 season. After a match-winning hundred against SunRisers Hyderabad toward the business end of the tournament, Kohli took pride in revealing that he was holding himself back from playing fancy shots in order to stay true to his technique in the lead-up to the WTC Final.

“It’s not about playing fancy shots and throwing my wicket away. We’ve got Test cricket (coming up) after the IPL, have to stay true to my technique,” Kohli had said.

However, Kohli was not able to walk the talk in the WTC final with his shot selection letting him down in good batting conditions.

GAVASKAR DISAPPOINTED

Former India opener and legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar was particularly disappointed with Kohli’s dismissal on Day 5 of the World Test Championship.

“It was a bad shot. You’ll ask me how he did that. I think you should have asked Kohli what shot he played. That was a shot outside the off-stump. If you are to win the match, you need long innings, how do you get to a century if you are going to play a shot for a delivery that was so wide outside the off-stump,” a visibly disappointed Gavaskar told Star Sports.

As feared, Kohli’s dismissal on Day 5 morning opened the floodgates as India went from 179 for 3 to 234 all-out in just a session.

Not just Kohli, but big guns, including Rohit Sharma (missed sweep against Nathan Lyon), Cheteshwar Pujara (failed upper-cut against Pat Cummins) and Ajinkya Rahane (expansive flash against Mitchell Starc) paid the price for poor shot selection as India threw a good opportunity to fight harder on a good batting pitch at The Oval.

NO SHOW IN BIG MATCHES?

Virat Kohli’s inability to score big when the team needs him has been a huge area of concern. In the recently-concluded WTC 2021-23 cycle, Kohli has managed just 455 runs in 17 innings at an average of 28 away from home. He has not hit a single hundred, scoring just 3 fifty-plus scores away from home.

There was much build-up also in the lead-up to the WTC final as to how Virat Kohli gets fired up against Australia. Kohli himself, speaking to the official broadcasters, shed light on his mindset that has brought him success against Australia in the past.

In the recent past, Kohli’s batting numbers against Australia also took a dip. Barring the 186 in the drawn Test in Ahmedabad earlier this year, Kohli went past fifty against Australia only once in 10 innings.

However, against his favourite foes, Kohli failed to deliver when it mattered the most.

On the other hand, one of his contemporaries, Steve Smith stepped up in the big final and made it count with a sensational century that turned out to be a key factor in Australia hammering India by 209 runs and winning the Championship.