T could well have happened on the very first delivery he faced. Virat Kohli had entered a mixed reception at a packed Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday morning. It started with a bit of a boo before the applause kicked in. Kohli, walking in at the fall of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 10, was already under immense pressure. Rohit Sharma, the other senior batter and captain had "opted out", because of his poor form, and now the focus had shifted to the former captain. Kohli did not just need runs; he needed a big knock to keep the wagons away from circling.
As always, he took a middle and leg guard with a slightly closer stance than he had in Melbourne, and looked up to face Scott Boland. The Victorian pacer had been the most venomous of the lot for Australia. Every time he took the field, Boland ran in and hit that one box of a line and length that ensured the ball hit the top of the off-stump. On occasions, the ball would bounce extra, catching the batter off guard.
Here was Kohli, probably under more pressure than he ever was through this tour. As the ball pitched in that small area that Boland ever so consistently hits, Kohli shuffled across, got on his back foot and fended at it. The ball squared him up, took the outside edge and flew to the right of Steve Smith at second slip. Smith tried to hold on, but all he could manage was lob it up with his knuckle. Marcus Labuschagne caught it on the rebound and Kohli stood stunned.
Denne historien er fra January 04, 2025-utgaven av The New Indian Express Bhubaneswar.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 04, 2025-utgaven av The New Indian Express Bhubaneswar.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
La Liga: Real beat Las Palmas 4-1
WITH Kylian Mbappe putting on a show again, Real Madrid returned to the top of the Spanish league.
Tax sops likely for brownfield projects
FACED with slow uptake in private investment, the government may announce some tax sops in the Budget this year for encouraging new investments by companies.
SEBI May Extend Time to Fix MF NAV
To ease the implementation of directions on upstreaming of client funds, the markets watchdog is planning to extend time to stock brokers/clearing members to un-pledge units of overnight mutual fund schemes and place redemption request with funds houses, after the close of market hours.
Zomato Reports 57% Decline in Net Profit, Revenue Rises 64%
Food delivery company Zomato on Monday reported a 57% fall in its consolidated net profit for Q3FY25 to ₹59 crore as against ₹138 crore in Q3FY24.
Admin bans community feasts in village hit by mysterious deaths
EVEN as the high-level inter-ministerial team visited remote Budhal village in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Monday to ascertain the cause of the 17 deaths in three families due to a mysterious illness, the administration sealed the spring in the affected village after water samples from it tested positive for a few pesticides and insecticides and also banned community feasts in the village.
Skywatch time as seven planets to align in March
IN a rare celestial event, seven planets of the Solar System will align by March this year.
Billionaires' wealth grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before
THE wealth of billionaires grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before, a top anti-poverty group said on Monday as some of the world's political and financial heavy-weights prepared for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
43-Yr-Old Man Rapes Minor Step-Daughter
In a shocking incident, a 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her step-father at Bartoli under Bondamunda police station here in Sundargarh district.
5.2K birds of 117 species in Uttarakhand's Asan wetland
IN a significant citizen science effort, a bird counting campaign at the Asan Wetland in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand has yielded impressive results, with volunteers identifying 5,225 birds across 117 different species.
Hope beckons as blood cancer therapy launched
OFFERING new hope to patients facing aggressive blood cancers, India launched the first global CAR T-cell therapy for adult B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (B-NHL), a kind of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system.
