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Indian cricket fans have shown sympathy towards Virat Kohli, whose dismal run with the bat continued on Sunday after he was dismissed for 20 in the second innings of the ongoing fifth and final Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. After showing immense determination and application to stick around in the middle, Virat Kohli looked good to end his long barren spell but fell to an unplayable delivery from England captain Ben Stokes in the last session of play on Day 3 of the Test match.
After losing the wicket of Shubhman Gill in the first over of their second innings, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara got their act together following the dismissal of Hanuma Vihari.
However, just when it appeared both batters had settled nicely at the crease, Ben Stokes came up with a jaffa to send Virat Kohli back to the pavilion.
Ben Stokes bowled the ball on a good length and at the off stump, but it took off after hitting the ground and also moved away a bit.
As Virat Kohli was forced to play the ball, it took his glove before moving in the direction of England wicketkeeper Sam Billings. Though Sam Billings failed to grab the ball, Joe Root was alert enough to pouch it on the rebound, ending Virat Kohli's brief stay at the crease.
Fans, however, were sympathetic towards Kohli as they called him “unlucky” for getting such a delivery, and he couldn't have done much about it.
While there were others, who talked about his “passion” for the game before emphasizing that he may not be scoring runs at the moment but his commitment to Indian cricket remains unparalleled.
Word – Unlucky
Synonym – Virat Kohli 💔#INDvENG #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/1Kilg57epC— Shivam Jaiswal (@7jaiswalshivam) July 3, 2022
No scoring runs ,just winning hearts with his classical drives …#Kohli #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/URXed8Atsg
— NIKHIL RAJ (@NIKHIL_SAHU_18) July 4, 2022
https://twitter.com/chhikarakhush7/status/1543789917154603010
Feel for Virat Kohli, looks solid in batting in recent times and is unfortunately finding new ways to get out with not much fault of his own. He is a champ and will come out hard. Btw don't like his sledging #Kohli #INDvENG
— Mayur Shah (@mayurshah5555) July 3, 2022
Earlier, the third day at Edgbaston began on a tense note as Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow were engaged in an ugly exchange of words.
Video footage showed Virat Kohli signaling Jonny Bairstow to stay inside the crease after he walked up to the England wicketkeeper batter. The former India captain then made gestures with his hands, telling Jonny Bairstow to shut up.
It wasn’t the first time when Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow were involved in a feisty sledging match during the contest. Before Sunday’s episode, Virat Kohli was seen mocking the England batter after India pacer Mohammed Shami troubled him a lot on Saturday. Nonetheless, the two made peace with each other at the close of play as they were seen sharing a good laugh.
However, things turned nasty on Day 3 as Virat Kohli was heard saying “Shut up. Just stand and bat” to Jonny Bairstow on the stump mic.
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Virat Kohli then had a chat with England skipper Ben Stokes who then went up to Jonny Bairstow to calm him down and the two punched each other’s gloves before having a good laugh over it.
Virat Kohli’s sledging, however, backfired as Jonny Bairstow became ultra aggressive after this incident. The Englishman went into overdrive – while he was earlier mistiming his strokes, Virat Kohli’s words fired him up.
Suddenly, Jonny Bairstow started gaining in confidence before unleashing his full repertoire of strokes – short-arm pulls, drives, lofted hits over the inner circle and the runs started to come at a rapid pace.
The England star who was the main hero of England’s 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand before this Test match looked menacing, especially after bringing up his fifty in the first session of play.
Notably, it took him 20 minutes to score his first run on Day 3. But an altercation with Virat Kohli was what he needed to get going.
Runs kept flowing from his bat in the second session as Jonny Bairstow coasted through to his third century in as many Tests before being sent back to the pavilion by Mohammed Shami for 106.
His wicket brought more rewards for the Indian bowlers as the visitors got rid of Stuart Broad and Sam Billings in quick succession before bowling England out for 284.
India then took control courtesy of Cheteshwar Pujara's unbeaten half-century in the second innings as the visitors took a commanding 257-run lead in the match with two days remaining.
On Day 4, the Indians, especially Cheteshwar Pujara and first-innings centurion Rishabh Pant would look to take the lead past the 350-run mark.
It would give a psychological advantage to India over the hosts, considering England's successful run chase ever has been 359 runs, which they achieved against Australia in an Ashes Test back in 2019.
In the past, England have chased a target of over 300 runs only four times in the longest format of the game.
