Australia vs India: Virat Kohli and Mitchell Starc share a laugh at the MCG

Amidst all the excitement of the Boxing Day Test, all the eyes were on the 22-yard strip on offer at the MCG on Wednesday. Allan Border did the pitch report and was excited to see around 15 mm grass on it and gave a verdict that the team winning the toss should bowl first. However, Virat Kohli surprised everyone by opting to bat first or rather one would say he didn’t read too much into the grass on the pitch.

India’s new opening pair of Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal looked comfortable as the new cherry didn’t do much. But they were only troubled with the inconsistent bounce in the pitch. It stayed throughout the day with the ball rearing up from the good length and hit the batsmen at the gloves a number of times.

A similar incident took place when the second new ball was taken. Mitchell Starc was bowling beautifully and was all over Virat Kohli in his final spell of the day.

Bounce surprises everyone

In the 87th over of the day, Starc bowled a pacy delivery which pitched on a good length area outside the off-stump. Virat Kohli was adamant on leaving the ball which suddenly reared up after passing the stumps and by the time it reached the wicket-keeper Tim Paine, the red cherry was out of reach for him and went for four byes.

Everyone including Kohli and Starc were left shocked with the pitch’s behaviour as they shared a laugh together having a look at each other. The duo stared at each other in a friendly way and smiled while looking at the pitch from where the ball bounced. Kohli later was also lucky to be dropped as Paine couldn’t hold on to a tough chance to his right as India ended the day on 215/2 after 89 overs.

Here’s the video:

That has done PLENTY!

What about the reactions from Starc and Kohli 😂😂 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/9Y1pG9dkKx

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 26, 2018

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