Why Virat Kohli's Perth Test dismissal is worrying for Team India?

Star India batter Virat Kohli failed to be among runs yet again as he was dismissed cheaply on what was an eventful one on Day 1 of the first Test between India (IND) and Australia (AUS), in Perth. Notably, after winning the toss, the stand-in Captain Jasprit Bumrah took a bold call to bat first in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) opener.

However, the decision seemed to backfire as the top order was rattled by the Australian pacers. Among the victims, Kohli fell prey to the vicious bounce of the renowned Optus ground as well. Interestingly, cricket expert and former Australia cricketer, Trent Copeland, analyzed the dismissal patterns of the Indian batting stalwart owing to his poor form. While decoding his batting, he revealed that the Delhi-based batter was often dismissed through other ways of dismissal rather than getting trapped (LBW- Leg Before Wicket Dismissal) and getting cleaned bowled.

Incredibly enough, it was revealed that the last time Kohli was dismissed via LBW on the Australian shores, was only before facing 2,037 balls, while he was cleaned bowled before facing 1,578 deliveries, respectively. Back in the year 2012, Ben Hilfenhaus was the only pacer to have successfully trapped in front of the wickets which was also in Perth. On the other hand, the former Aussie fiery pacer, Mitchell Johnson, was the only other pacer to have managed to get past Kohli’s defence. This dismissal took place during the Test match played in Brisbane, in 2014.

Hence, in the aftermath of the analysis of Kohli’s batting, an astonishing fact came to the fore. In what can be considered one of the eye-opening stats, Virat Kohli was found to be getting caught out on most occasions. As per Wisden, on 14 instances the Indian batter has been dismissed in Australia so far, out of them, on 13 instances he was caught out while only a sole run-out dismissal happened during a Test played in Adelaide in 2020.

Virat Kohli as it has been noticed has an intriguing tendency to chase and push the balls being bowled in the off-stump channel or slightly away from the off corridor. Now given that Kohli is a good puller of the ball, the Australians seldomly tried the bodyline bowling against him. To the extent that, out of previous tours down under, Australia bowled only six percent of balls in the stump line. The rest of the 94 percent of balls were kept outside the stumps.

Hence, the ‘Baggy Greens’ chalked out this plan of keeping the ball away from Kohli while throwing an element of surprise with occasional bouncers to keep the modern Indian batting great guessing and on his toes the whole time. As a result, several instances happened where due to this uncertainty, Kohli was found stuck in the crease while remaining in doubt about whether to press forward and commit fully on the balls being bowled to him outside the off-stump channel or leave them consistently.

Check out Virat Kohli's dismissal analysis here:

Henceforth, on Day 1 of the Perth Test in the ongoing BGT 2024-25, it came as no surprise, when pacer Josh Hazlewood stuck to his game plan of bowling outside the off stump. Even though Virat Kohli started batting outside the crease in a bid to negate the swing and bounce factor, some balls just pounced on him to rattle him. Consequently, Kohli fell prey to one of those deliveries and failed to get away from the line of the ball leading an edge to the slip cordon.

Also Check: AUS vs IND 1st Test, Day 1 Stats Review

However, the same dilemma of shot commitment continued with Australia as well, as they slumped to 67/7 on Day 1, on what turned out to be a 17-wicket day. Bowlers of both sides made merry with the red ‘cherry’ aka ball. With Team India looking good to finish the hosts’ first innings early in a bid to gain a sizeable lead, it will be interesting to see how Virat Kohli goes about his business when he comes out to bat in Team India’s second innings in Perth.

Check out how Virat Kohli's dismissal in Perth here:

Virat Kohli’s Last 10 Dismissals in Australia