Virat Kohli is finding the edge of his bat more than the middle. Is this news? Of course not. Is this a concern? Definitely. Kohli is unable to resist poking at balls outside off-stump, a weakness Australia has taken full advantage of. Today, on Day 1 of the 5th Test of the India vs Australia series for the prized Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Kohli nicked off to slips again – the fourth time he got out to Scott Boland in six innings and the seventh time he was out caught behind. As a matter of fact, each one of Kohli’s dismissals has been caught behind.
Boland has dismissed Kohli in the second innings of the Adelaide Test, the first innings of the Melbourne Test and now in Sydney. Besides, Boland also had the wood over Kohli two years ago in the final of the World Test Championship at Lord’s. As Boland continues to make Kohli his bunny, the Australia pacer, in the Playing XI for the injured Josh Hazlewood, revealed the planning that goes behind bowling to the former India captain.
“He sort of feels like he leaves a lot, and then he wants to play the ball once he gets in. So once he gets in, we just want to switch our lines a little bit to fifth stump and it’s working at the moment,” he said after the end of the day’s play as Australia’s score read 9/1, trailing India (185 all out) by 176 runs.
Where Scott Boland stands in the list of bowlers to have dismissed Virat Kohli the most
Boland, 33, still has a long way to climb up the list of bowlers who’ve had the most success against Kohli in Tests. Right at the top are James Anderson and Nathan Lyon with 7 dismissals, followed by Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes on six occasions each. Stuart Broad, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Kagiso Rabada, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc have gotten him out five times each.
Boland was once again Australia’s best bower of the day, finishing with 4/31, including wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and centurion from the Boxing Day Test, Nitish Reddy. Boland’s incredible spell also saw him complete 50 Test wickets for Australia. With 15 scalps, Boland is the fifth-highest wicket-taker of the series, behind Jasprit Bumrah (31), Pat Cummins (22), Mitchell Starc (18) and Mohammed Siraj (16).
