Virat Kohli’s troubles against spin continued as he was dismissed by debutant Todd Murphy in the first ball after Lunch on Day 2 of the first Test against Australia in Nagpur. Kohli, who walked in to bat after Cheteshwar Pujara top-edged a sweep shot to short fine leg in the morning session on Friday, hit a couple of confident straight drives for fours and went to the break unharmed. But he was out as soon as play resumed in the second session.
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Murphy, who has been mighty impressive on his debut so far, would consider himself lucky as the delivery he bowled to get the prized wicket of Kohli would not even come close to get anyone out let alone the former India captain on most other days. The ball pitched around the leg stump and spun a little bit. Kohli went for the flick shot and ended up getting a tickle to the Australian keeper Alex Carey, who showed great reflexes to hold on to a sharp catch despite a juggle.
Kohli walked back to the pavilion with his head down for 12 off 26 balls as Australia started to stage a comeback in the Test match courtesy debutant, who picked the top four Indian wickets.
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Veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who was in the commentary box when Kohli was dismissed, termed it as “one of the worst possible manners” for a batter to get out.
“There are many ways to get out but this one has to be one of the worsts… strangle down the leg side. He instinctively played the flick shot but his bad luck today that he nicked that one. A really good catch from Alex Carey,” Karthik said on commentary.
Watch Video: Virat Kohli stunned by debutant Todd Murphy in India vs Australia 1st Test
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India captain Rohit Sharma easily appeared to be the best batter in the display from both sides. Resuming at 56, he went to Lunch at 85.
The second-wicket pair of Rohit and Ashwin added 40 runs in the first hour of play before Ashwin was trapped lbw for 23 from 62 balls, after the Indian night watchman had struck two boundaries and a six off veteran Australian opener Nathan Lyon (0-66).
While Lyon struggled with his line for a major part of the session, the 22-year-old Murphy found more purchase.
Four overs after dismissing Ashwin, Murphy had Cheteshwar Pujara (7) playing a loose shot and caught by Scott Boland at fine leg.
