Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah
IND vs AUS: When Jasprit Bumrah came to the field for the toss on the first day of the Sydney Test, it became clear that Rohit Sharma was not a part of the playing eleven. Bumrah won the toss and decided to bat first. Two changes were seen in the playing eleven of Team India. Shubman Gill was included in the playing 11 in place of Rohit Sharma and Prasidh Krishna was included in the playing 11 in place of Akash Deep. After winning the toss, Indian batting did not start well.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul came out to open the Indian innings but returned to the pavilion with the score of 17 runs in 8 overs. After this, Virat Kohli came on the field and narrowly escaped getting out on the very first ball. In the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Virat, who was out for continuously touching the ball going out, once again tried to do the same and the ball went into the hands of Steve Smith standing in the slips. Smith caught the ball and then quickly passed the ball to third slip to make a relay catch. However, the third umpire, after seeing the replays, made it clear that the ball had touched the ground.
Kohli disappointed again
Just before the end of the first session, Shubman Gill also returned to the pavilion and then the entire responsibility of the innings fell on the shoulders of Virat Kohli. In the second session, Virat looked in good form and he released many balls going outside. It seemed that today Virat had come with a different mindset. But Kohli did not desist from his habit and was out on the score of 17 runs after playing 69 balls. Kohli went to touch Scott Boland’s outgoing ball and was caught in the slip. This was the 8th time in 9 innings of BGT 2024-25 that Kohli has been out in the same manner i.e. caught in the slip.
Worse record than Bumrah
Now let’s talk about Kohli’s poor performance. Virat Kohli has been struggling with poor form in Tests for the last several years. Even though he scored a century with his bat in Perth in this Test series, he has not played a single big innings since then. In the last one year, his record is worse than that of Jasprit Bumrah. Yes, Virat Kohli’s batting average in the first innings since 2024 is worse than Jasprit Bumrah. Kohli’s average in the first innings of Tests since 2024 is only 7 while Bumrah’s average is 8. From this it can be estimated to what extent Virat’s bat is facing drought of runs in the first innings.
Worst average in first innings of Test since 2024 (minimum 5 innings)
- Keshav Maharaj- 5.6
- Virat Kohli- 7
- Jasprit Bumrah- 8
- Shoaib Bashir- 8.3
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