He may not have the designation of the ‘captain’ anymore, but Virat Kohli remains as involved during the game now as a player as he was back when leading the side.
His dedication to passing on every piece of information to skipper Rohit Sharma and the bowlers has been seen a number of times. Again today, on Day 5 of the Ahmedabad Test against Australia, Kohli was involved in an animated discussion with Axar Patel about the rough outside the right-hander’s off-stump as India struggled to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne on the lifeless, slow, and low surface that provided little help to the bowlers at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The Indian bowlers tried their best to take the Australian wickets to force a victory, but with very little help from the pitch, their plans couldn’t be executed to fruition.
After one of Axar’s overs, Kohli and Axar stood at one end of the pitch and discussed their plans as skipper Rohit looked at the duo. Axar stood as a batter – emulating Labuschagne – while Kohli stood and pointed on the rough outside the right-hander’s off-stump.
Such intense, knowledge-filled, and tactically nous was the discussion between former captain Kohli and Patel that Rohit didn’t say anything and just listened to the duo before all dispersed as Jadeja began his over.
This video has gone viral, with fans hailing Virat Kohli for his commitment and passion towards his team even without the tag of captain:
https://twitter.com/Anna24GhanteCh2/status/1635254068460531713?s=20
Meanwhile, India qualified for the WTC 2023 final after New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 2 wickets in Christchurch. It was lunchtime on Day 5 in Ahmedabad when Team India received this news that New Zealand have knocked Sri Lanka out of the WTC final race, sealing India’s date with Australia in the WTC final.
The Ahmedabad Test petered out to a dull, boring draw with India being able to take only two wickets in Australia’s second innings in 78.1 overs before the players decided to end the game and shake hands.
India won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series for the 4th consecutive time, by 2-1 scoreline.
Kohli was named the Player of the Match in Ahmedabad
And for a rare occasion, there were two Player of the Series from the same team – R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for their all-round performances.
