BGT 2023 | Twitter reacts as Virat Kohli narrowly misses out on double ton on Day 4 in drawish affair

SportsCafe Desk
no photo

India continued to pile on runs on the penultimate day of the final Border Gavaskar Trophy Test and took a sizable albeit meaningless 91-run lead given the drawish nature of the game. Virat Kohli led the show for India with his 185 while Axar Patel's entertaining 79 added to the highlight reels.

The fourth and final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test seems to be heading to an inevitable draw at stumps on Day 4 with Australia trailing India by 88 runs while having all 10 wickets in hand. The visitors were left frustrated and exhausted through the majority of Sunday as the Indian batters, particularly Virat Kohli, ran them ragged under the steaming sun in Motera.

The Men in Blue resumed their innings at 289/3 but lost their first wicket on the day in the first seven overs itself s Ravindra Jadeja departed for 28 following a loose shot against Todd Murphy. Thereon, the visitors tried to seize control of the game with a series of tight spells and excellent field setups from Steve Smith but Srikar Bharat helped break the shackles with two fours and three maximums en route to a career-high 44. All the while, Virat Kohli kept plugging along with singles and doubles, eyeing a first Test century in over three years The 34-year-old ultimately got to the mark of 241 deliveries, scoring just five boundaries in the process.

However, the veteran let loose after Tea alongside Axar Patel who struck five boundaries and cleared the fence four times to register his fourth Test half-century. Despite looking at his best, Patel failed to convert his knock into a maiden ton and was bowled by a nipping delivery from Mitchell Starc but not before ensuring his team a lead of 75 runs. Kohli tried to keep the innings going as Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav fell on the other end but Smith's tactics of having everyone on the boundary ropes while Mohammed Shami occupied the non-striker's end made progress difficult. Eventually, the former skipper went for a big shot and was caught in the boundary for 185, bringing India's innings to an end at 571/9 with Shreyas Iyer unavailable to bat due to pain in his lower back. Kohli was surrounded by the visiting players as he left the pitch, each taking their turn to congratulate the Delhite on his 75th international hundred.

In response, Australia sent out night watchman Matthew Kuhnemann to open alongside Travis head after Usman Khawaja had earlier walked off the field injured. The duo just tallied three runs while surviving six overs against Shami, Ashwin, and Jadeja, with the latter even earning a thick outside edge off Kuhnemann only for Bharat to drop the opportunity.

Yelling Kohli

It was not intentional!

Yeah! Every Indian plays for his country.

Sad!

Huge miss but it's okay!

There's happiness always in someone's down fall!

He was tired and no wickets left!

Yes! Defintely on of it.

What?

Hate is the new real bliss!

He had no space it make it!

Get updates! Follow us on

laught0
astonishment0
sadness0
heart0
like0
dislike0

Comments

Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions

0 Comments