Virat Kohli would be unhappy with his performance on day one of 1st SA Test: Ashish Nehra

In the first Test against South Africa, Virat Kohli came out to bat when India lost two successive wickets. He faced the hat-trick ball by Lungi Ngidi and blocked it by stepping across. On the first ball of the 43rd over, Kohli hit a boundary with a cover drive and it sent a message that the vintage Kohli might be back.

Over the course of the next few overs, Kohli judged every ball and gave the right treatment to bad balls. Along with KL Rahul, Kohli added 82 runs for the fourth wicket, and then came that ball, which disturbed the concentration of the Indian captain.

Kohli tried to play the second delivery of the 69th over through the off-side. The ball was way outside the off-stump and he could have easily left it. But, he didn’t and the ball reached Wiaan Mulder who was standing in the slips. Kohli made 35 runs off 94 balls and the wait for the 71st century continued.

Former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra expressed his concerns over the way in which Kohli was dismissed.

“You expect runs from someone like Kohli. He would be unhappy with his performance. But if you look at the stats, Kohli has scored runs in the previous away series in England conditions. He has the hunger to score hundreds and double hundreds and he would be a bit unhappy with himself today,” Nehra said on Cricbuzz.

Virat Kohli’s dismissal is a bit of concern: Ashish Nehra

Nehra further mentioned that the way Kohli was dismissed was a bit of concern. He said that Kohli should leave deliveries aimed at the fourth stump, just like Rahul did on the first day.

“Looking at the way he’s been dismissed, it’s a bit of concern. South Africa bowlers made Kohli play a loose shot and this has been a problem lately. Kohli has been giving his wickets to bowlers. Looking at today’s dismissal, we understand how Kohli has been out facing swinging deliveries aimed around the fourth stump. In such cases, you need the batter to leave those deliveries.. we saw that from KL Rahul today,” Nehra said.

Nehra backed Kohli by mentioning that his mentality and understanding of the game will help him score that much-awaited century.

“But Kohli’s mentality and understanding of the game will help him score that much-awaited knock. He had scored 74 in the Adelaide Test against Australia this year and another such knock isn’t far away,” Nehra added.