Virat Kohli’s much-awaited return to international cricket couldn’t have been poorer. He came to Australia with expectations touching the sky, but two matches later he is yet to open his account on this tour. The champion batter was dismissed chasing a wide delivery by Mitchell Starc in the first ODI at the Perth Stadium, and fell leg-before-wicket to an inswinger by Xavier Bartlett in the second ODI.
Here’s an excerpt from our feature on the Perth opener, describing the first failure of Kohli:
Albeit from a small sample size of three matches spread over six years, Optus Stadium had been a relatively low-scoring ODI venue before the coin was flipped in Perth on Sunday, with both captains wanting to field first given the rain factor. It continued to be the case, with Australia gunning down the DLS-adjusted target of 131 to open their account not only in the series but also at the ground. While local lads Mitchell Marsh and Josh Philippe rode the bounce with consummate ease, the ball frequented the splice of the Indian willows after taking off from the drop-in pitch that was hosting its first fixture of the season.
The sharp rise engulfed the top four, and the task of recovering the momentum from zilch was made harder by the heavens opening up every now and then. The frequent pauses kept Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood fresh as a daisy, and their frontloading restricted India to 50/4 at the halfway mark with the weather shaving off 18 overs from the action in an innings at that stage. For Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who were gracing international cricket after eight months, wealth of experience in Australian conditions could not upstage the lack of miles under their legs. For Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, the nature of dismissal was soft, but the fact remained that acclimatisation to the springy decks is going to be India’s toughest challenge on this tour.
