World Cup 2019: Colin de Grandhomme shatters Virat Kohli’s stumps in the warmup match

The Men in Blue and Black Caps clash at the Oval in their first warm-up fixture of World Cup 2019. Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that had enough green and promised to test the batsmen in overcast conditions. Pretty early in the game, New Zealand bowlers earned an upper hand over the Indian batsmen, as they struggled to cope with the lateral movement. Not just the two openers who are usually susceptible against the moving ball but even skipper Kohli failed.

The likes of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson made the ball talk and both Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan fell for two runs each to Boult in his first spell. The pacer also got rid of KL Rahul who walked in at No.4 for 6 runs for his third wicket of the match. Rahul was batting at 4 as Vijay Shankar was injured on the eve of the match but failed to capitalize on the opportunity.

Kohli walked out in the 2nd over of the innings after Rohit walked back being trapped in front of the stumps. When the ball is moving, New Zealand pacers are at their best and it is not just the first line of attack that is effective but even the change bowlers who continue the pressure. Kohli played out the first spell from Boult and Southee, was cautious but didn’t shy away when there was a scoring opportunity.

In the 11th over, he was batting on 18 off 46 balls, standing outside the crease to tackle swing. The bowler was a familiar face Kohli’s RCB teammate Colin de Grandhomme. The medium-pacer doesn’t come across as a real threat but can chip in with wickets. The Indian captain failed to read one that moved into him after hitting the deck. There was a huge gap between bat and pad, the ball exploited that and shattered his stumps.

Kohli moved his front foot forward to cover the line of the delivery and was trying to use his wrists and work it on to the on-side, that didn’t happen as the movement was larger than his expectation. The Indian captain would certainly want to look back at it and iron out if that is a technical thing before the main draw of the World Cup gets underway.

Here is the video of Kohli’s dismissal: