Virat Kohli's woeful run against the deliveries pitched outside off-side continued as the India batter again fell to Scott Boland's trap on Day 1 of the fifth and final Test in Sydney on Friday. Coming in at the fall of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kohli survived a first-ball duck when he edged a ball from Boland, as TV replays showed Steve Smith had grounded the cherry. Thereafter, Kohli played the patient game as he and Shubman Gill steadied the Indian ship with a 40-run stand for the third wicket in 106 balls before the latter got out at the stroke of lunch.
With Rishabh Pant alongside him after lunch, Kohli looked at ease, playing the opposition quite conformably. However, a lapse of concentration and urge to go on against the widish outside off-stump deliveries cost him the wicket. Kohli, who looked to have changed his stance in Sydney, was batting out of the crease in an attempt to tackle the movement of the ball.
Watch Virat Kohli's dismissal He tried to play it with soft hands but the ball took the edge and went to debutant Beau Webster. Kohli scored 17 off 68 balls. This was his seventh dismissal in this fashion in the series and the fourth time against Boland.
Kohli's dismissal didn't go well with the netizens. “Kohli loves slips like Hashmi loves lips,” said one user. One even compared Kohli with former captain MS Dhoni on the art of leaving balls.
“Virat Kohli should learn from Thala how to leave balls outside off-stump,” another posted. Earlier, stand-in India capta.