Former cricketers Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist have fired a timely Virat Kohli warning to Australia ahead of the crucial second Test against Team India.
The hosts would be desperate to bounce back and level the five-match series after suffering a humiliating defeat in the first Test in Perth. India thoroughly outplayed Australia with both bat and ball in the Test to win it by a huge margin of 295 runs.
Australia did well to bowl out India for just 150 runs on day one. However, they failed to capitalize as India dominated the game after their batting failure in the first innings.
Virat Kohli scores a ton in Perth
Riding on stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah’s sensational five-wicket haul, India bowled out Australia for just 104 runs.
In the second innings, the tourists came up with a strong batting display. India scored 487/6 (declared) thanks to centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli. Set an improbable target of 533 runs, Australia could score only 238 runs.
Michael Vaughan’s ‘Virat Kohli’ Warning for Australia:
As Australia looks to bounce back, Vaughan and Gilchrist have warned them about Virat Kohli’s form. Kohli scored an unbeaten 100 in the second innings to put the team in the driver’s seat. Virat Kohli was facing criticism from several quarters for his poor batting display in the last Test series against New Zealand but has responded in style.
“That’s an ominous sign for Australia that he’s found form,” Vaughan said on Club Prairie Fire.
“I mean, in the first innings, he came out of his crease and was trying to get close to the ball one bounce. I thought, well, that’s a bit dangerous at Perth.
“In the second innings, the pitch quietened down, he came in in a good position, but his movements are perfect for these wickets.
“When the ball comes on, he’s got that lovely punch through the offside. He was keeping his balance to work on the onside and anything slightly short, you know, he was whipping onto that pulled shot, the hook shot.
“Against Nathan Lyon, he just had a very simple game plan, just work it on the onside with the spin. Played a couple of sweep shots, actually. You don’t see him sweep the ball too often,” added Vaughan.
Adam Gilchrist rings alarm bells for Australia
On the other hand, Gilchrist said: “I think that the double innings collapse in the first innings of both teams worked in Virat Kohli’s favor.
“He looked like he came out probably a little bit too, trying to be a bit too authoritative in the first innings, he was buzzing, he was all about it, his energy was right up the Richter scale.
“He got nipped out like a lot of them did, but I think that just had a chat with him after that next morning and he said, oh, yeah, so disappointed getting out. But then by the end of the day, you realise that’s not a big failure compared to a lot of things that happened in that day.
“So he obviously processes it pretty quick, had a beautiful platform when he came out in the second innings and just looked really in control and at ease.
So, you know, and then I tell you what helped him too, he was 60-odd by the time the motion came from Jasprit Bumrah, but that was positive cricket. Like what you say, Vaughan, everything was all about going forward, taking that game forward by the Indians,” added the Australia great.
The second Test of the series is scheduled to be played in Adelaide on December 6. It will be a day-night game and will be played with the pink ball. Before the second Test, India will also play a two-day warm-up game against the Prime Ministers XI in Canberra.