'He is struggling now' - Twitterati worried with Virat Kohli's yet another failure against England

Team India has started the third Test against England at Headingley in the worst possible manner. Their skipper Virat Kohli finally managed to win the toss and opted to bat on a sunny morning which seemed best batting conditions. But the visitors have given away the advantage not respecting the bowlers in the first hour of the opening session.

KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara got out playing the delivery outside the off-stump and it was no different from their captain Virat Kohli either. His barren run of form continued as well as the 32-year-old has now gone a whopping 50 innings without a century in international cricket.

Kohli came in to bat with India reeling at 4/2 and needed to stitch a partnership in order to take his team to the safe shores. As always, he looked confident driving a couple of balls nicely but then the captain chose the wrong delivery to unleash his full-fledged drive. The red cherry came out of James Anderson’s hands nicely, landed on a length and jagged away ever so slightly to take a thick edge of Kohli’s bat .

Needless to say, a vociferous celebration followed from England and the home crowd as they had got the big fish. Virat Kohli scored only 7 runs off 17 balls to leave his team struggling at 21/3 in the first hour of the Test.

James Anderson – Kohli’s nemesis

James Anderson has continued to win his battle with Virat Kohli after not being able to dismiss him in the 2018 tour. The veteran pacer was all over him in 2014 when he had managed to send back Kohli as many as five times during the five-match series. However, the Indian captain came back well in 2018 scoring truckloads of runs but his vulnerability outside the off-stump has come back to haunt him it seems.

The 39-year-old is clearly exploiting Kohli’s weakness and at the moment and the latter has no answers to it. Even as the poor run continued for Virat in whites, the fans were left numb and they weren’t happy with their favourite player at all.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

That is a very poor shot from Virat Kohli. Jimmy Anderson has three in the first hour.

— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) August 25, 2021

Think Anderson enjoyed that one… Kohli gone and India in some schtuck. #ENGvIND

— Rob Johnston (@RobJ_Cricket) August 25, 2021

Anderson gets Kohli too nicking behind. We are seeing one of the great opening spells in modern cricket. What a crisis India find themselves in after the rousing win at Lord’s!

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) August 25, 2021

Jimmy 🐐 #EngvInd

— Wear a Mask. Stay Safe, India (@cricketaakash) August 25, 2021

Disappointed with @imVkohli's dismissal.
He should look to get set first and then look to time the ball, this is a game of patience… Once he gets set, we all know that hundred is coming#ENGvIND

— Vinod Kambli (@vinodkambli349) August 25, 2021

I like this new England tactic of only needing to pick two players, Js Anderson and Root, and go from there. Strong. #ENGvIND

— Isabelle Westbury (@izzywestbury) August 25, 2021

Anderson making amends. #IndvsEng

— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) August 25, 2021

Jimmy is showing the world who is the boss out there…

— Sandipan Banerjee (@im_sandipan) August 25, 2021

Now Anderson gets Kohli. What a morning, especially after what happened in the last Test. #ENGvIND

— Anand Vasu (@anandvasu) August 25, 2021

Masterclass by #JamesAnderson .What a planning and craft! Hats off @jimmy9 #IndvsEng #INDvENG

— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) August 25, 2021

Jimmy Anderson dismisses Kohli with full wide corridor swinger👌
He has 3/6 🎯🎯🎯#AndersonAvenueOfAgelessness

— Damien Fleming (@bowlologist) August 25, 2021

Never thought I will say this but Kohli is struggling 🙁 India in trouble 🙈 #IndvsEng

— Vikram Sathaye (@vikramsathaye) August 25, 2021

Obviously, Jimmy Anderson is going to run through some batsmen. The real test will be when he bowls to Shami and Bumrah… #INDvENG

— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) August 25, 2021

Bowlers dismissing Kohli most times in Test cricket

7 JAMES ANDERSON
7 Nathan Lyon

— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) August 25, 2021

Kohli is really struggling with the bat this England tour….

— Madyira (@MitchellMGumbo) August 25, 2021

Virat Kohli's scores in Tests since his last Test ton.

7, 20, 42, 0, 13, ,44, 0, 27, 62, 0, 72, 11, 4, 74, 14, 3, 19, 2

four ducks
11 scores under 20
3 fifties

414 runs in 18 innings = 23 average

Sibley-esque #EngvInd

— Jack Mendel 🗞️ (@Mendelpol) August 25, 2021

Virat Kohli tour of England 2021
Innings: 4
Runs: 69
Average: 17.25

And we have the audacity to complain about our batting line up!#ENGvIND #bbccricket

— Matt Mehdi-Daley (@MatMehdiDaleySJ) August 25, 2021

Really surprised by the shot attempted by Kohli v Anderson. He is bowling full tilt and getting the ball to move, why play the risky fancy drive? 21/3 is a pathetic start after winning the toss #IndvsEng

— Chaitanya Prabhu (@chaitanyapshrof) August 25, 2021

Kohli Fan's rn :#ENGvsIND pic.twitter.com/ILWzaBy1sD

— Saلeem 🖤 (@Oooy_Dr) August 25, 2021

Kohli fans pic.twitter.com/VJHx7AMHIn

— Dr. Gill 2.0 (@ikpsgill1) August 25, 2021

Virat Kohli's batting average in last 10 Tests is 24.56. #RoughPatch

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 25, 2021