Gavaskar explains how Kohli might have fared against Starc’s bouncer

After the top three batsmen, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Cheteshwar Pujara, returned to the hut cheaply, Virat Kohli needed to leave his imprint with the bat against Australia. The former Indian captain seemed solid until Mitchell Starc’s bouncer caught him off guard. A left-arm bowler delivered an off-cutter with a shorter pitch as he circled the wicket. Before Smith took a superb catch at the second slip, it briefly touched Kohi’s gloves.

While many people deemed the ball unplayable, former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar said Kohli may have survived the delivery if he had played defensively. Gavaskar said at Star Sports that the batter didn’t have enough time to lower his wrists and abandon the delivery since he was on the front foot.

“You may take another look. Today, most hitters are on the front foot since there are only two bouncers each over. This indicates that they are unable to get the upper hand and gain the additional yard when you could have likely let the ball fly by lowering your wrists.

“Yes, it was a difficult delivery because he was so focused on getting on the front foot that he was unable to pull back his bat in time. Gavaskar stated, “If he had been on the back foot.

“It looked like an unplayable ball, but if he had been on the back foot, he would have been able to drop his wrists,” the author said.

India’s batting struggled after a strong start against a potent pace attack. Before losing their wickets in quick succession, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill set up 30 runs for the first wicket. Australia, who had earlier dominated with the bat, gained the advantage thanks to a pair of early breakthroughs.

Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja attempted to calm the situation as the former played bravely. The southpaw hit a six and seven boundaries before succumbing to Nathan Lyon at the end of the innings. India was in trouble at 151 for 5 at day 2’s stumps with Rahane still on the field.