India vs Australia: ‘Virat Kohli lost his momentum as Cheteshwar Pujara was caught at one end,’ says Brad Haddin
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(From Left) Virat Kohli, Brad Haddin, Cheteshwar Pujara
The Indian team finished the play of day 1 of the Adelaide Test with a decent score of 233/6. Skipper Virat Kohli emerged as the leading run-scorer with his knock of 74 for the visiting side. Cheteshwar Pujara too played a patient knock of 43 in 160 deliveries to support Kohli from the other end.
Former Australian wicket-keeper batsman Brad Haddin questioned the approach of Cheteshwar Pujara during the first innings. Haddin reckoned that Kohli lost the momentum with Pujara at the other end as the duo wasn’t rotating the strike.
“I thought he was just building into his innings. He got better every ten runs as he went on. He looked in control, and I think his momentum got lost a little bit from (because of) Pujara. They weren’t rotating the strike, and at times, Pujara was getting caught down one end, and they were losing the rhythm of the game. It was affecting Kohli,” Brad Haddin explained while speaking on the Sony Sports Network.
Also Read | India vs Australia: “We still have a very good chance of getting 300,” says Cheteshwar Pujara
“But when Rahane came in, they looked like they were enjoying batting together. They ran well between the wickets before that nightmare run out. He started to get a lot of rhythm back in his game. And then, he looked like Australia had no answers to him. He looked in total control. He was playing on skills and not on emotions as we’ve seen sometimes from him. The run out came at the right time for us,” he added.
Kohli’s run out was a big moment: Haddin
The former cricketer also talked about the most crucial moment of the inaugural day of the Test match: Virat Kohli’s run out. Haddin stated that this incident derailed India’s campaign as Kohli was batting magnificently alongside Ajinkya Rahane.
“The big moment we’re all talking about is Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane’s run out. We know how important that last session of play here is when the second new ball comes into play,” Haddin explained.
“You need your set batsman to play, and that run out just turned things back towards Australia. And in the end, 6/233, it’s an even day but could have been a lot worse for both teams.”
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Sachin Arora
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