Virat Kohli may be struggling for runs, but the former India captain continues to stay in the limelight for various reasons. On Sunday, Virat Kohli had an ugly altercation with England batter Jonny Bairstow, which angered many English celebrities, including noted Broadcaster Piers Morgan. However, it is Virat Kohli's form or the lack of it, which has been a topic of hot debate across cricketing circles. In the recent past, several former Indian cricketers and pundits have been highly critical of Virat Kohli's batting and some have even questioned his technique. Former England spinner Graeme Swann has now waded into the debate and thinks that Indian commentators are too harsh while criticizing Virat Kohli.
“You can say what you want, I don’t care, who is batting in any period of Test history if you can survive that delivery you are very, very lucky. That is unplayable. It’s a lucky catch in the end,” Graeme Swann said.
“Regardless, if you are looking to get on the front foot, back foot that ball is a ripsnorter. For an English point of view, I often find that whenever Indian commentators talk about Virat, I always think ‘wow they are quite harsh on him'. The standards are so high for Virat, I thought he was very at ease today,” he added.
Virat Kohli has now gone 953 days without a century in international cricket. The Delhi-born cricket star last made a hundred against Bangladesh in the famous Pink Ball Test, the first on Indian soil in Kolkata in 2019.
Since then, runs have been hard to come by for Virat Kohli. Earlier this year, his Test average dropped below 50 for the first time in five years.
On Day 3 of the ongoing Test between England and India, Virat Kohli looked in good touch and seemed poised for a big score but it wasn't to be as he got an unplayable delivery from Ben Stokes which ended his sojourn at the crease for 20.
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.
Graeme Swann went on to claim that Virat Kohli did nothing wrong while playing that ball from Ben Stokes and he was just a bit unlucky to get such delivery from the England captain.
“Yes, he is looking to get forward, but he knows that the England bowlers, Broad and Anderson, are looking to pitch it up. Jimmy won't waste his time bowling many short ones to Virat. I think it was clever batting,” Graeme Swann pointed out.
Earlier, Virat Kohli drew the attention of the cricket world with his on-field brawl with Jonny Bairstow at Edgbaston.
England were staring down the barrel at the end of Day 2 as the Indian fast bowlers reduced the hosts to 84/5, including the big wicket of in-form Joe Root.
The Indians continued to pile on the pressure at the start of Day 3 but Virat Kohli's heated exchange with Jonny Bairstow stirred the England wicketkeeper batter as he went on to complete his fifth century of the year off only 119 balls.
Before Virat Kohli walked up to him, Jonny Bairstow had made just 13 off 61 deliveries.
But after Virat Kohli's provocation, his next 87 runs came off just 57 balls.
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.
Nevertheless, when Jonny Bairstow was asked “Did Kohli poke the bear” at him by a reporter during a press conference, he gave an epic reply.
“Did he poke the bear?” and he responded saying, “It's a nice pun that in it”.
“As I mentioned earlier, there was literally nothing. We've been fortunate to play against each other for ten years. So, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to have dinner. Don't worry about it,” he added.
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