Virat Kohli's ‘bad luck' ignited a flurry of memes after the premier India batter's poor display with the bat continued in Tests against Australia in Nagpur.

Fans posted hilarious memes to mock the former India skipper as Virat Kohli fell to debutant Australian spinner Todd Murphy in the Rohit Sharma-led side's only innings at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium this weekend.

 

In the last six months, Virat Kohli has succeeded in changing his fortunes in white-ball cricket, in T20Is and ODIs. While the Delhi-born cricketer ended last year's T20 World Cup in Australia as the tournament's leading run-scorer and recently added three ODI centuries to his kitty, his red-ball form has kept the fans and former cricketers worried.

Since 2020, Virat Kohli has played 21 Tests, and in 37 knocks in those matches, he has only made 929 runs at a mediocre average of 25.80.

His last hundred in the five-day format came against Bangladesh in Kolkata in 2019.

His last eleven Test knocks have been pathetic Speaking about his scores on the past 11 occasions read as 12 against Australia in the Nagpur Test, 1 & 24 versus Bangladesh in the second Test, 19* & 1 against Bangladesh in the first Test, 20 & 11 versus England, 13 & 23 vs. Sri Lanka in the second Test, 45 against Sri Lanka in the first Test and 29 versus South Africa in the second essay of the third Test.

His last half-century in Test cricket came in the Cape Town Test against South Africa in 2022, which was also his final match as the national team’s skipper. Kohli had scored a well-compiled 79 off 201 deliveries at the time.

Continuing with his poor performances in the whites, Virat Kohli lost his wicket for 12 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Friday. Debutant spinner Todd Murphy dismissed him in the contest, again exposing his frailties against spin.

To be fair to Virat Kohli, he looked in good nick during his short stay at the crease, hitting a couple of beautiful drives. But bad luck eventually led to his departure in the 53rd over of the Indian innings.

Interestingly, Virat Kohli lost his wicket on the first ball after Lunch after the Delhi-born cricketer tried to flick the Australian off-spinner but got a thin edge that went straight into the hands of wicketkeeper Alex Carey behind the wickets.

However, former India coach Ravi Shastri, who shares a close bond with Virat Kohli, defended the talismanic batter, saying he was unlucky to get out in that manner.

“That's unlucky. That's strangled down the leg side. I mean once in 50 innings he will get out in that fashion. Let's not talk about technique or an off-spinner getting him out. Forget all that. He is out, bad luck, but it was the right thing from Australia's point of view because they needed a wicket. Straight up after that, you get the momentum going,” Ravi Shastri told Star Sports.

On the other hand, Todd Murphy claimed it was a dream come true for him to take Virat Kohli's wicket in his first match in international cricket.

“That's a dream come true. A guy I have watched for so long, he's a hero for all these guys. The roar when he came out to bat sort of took me back a little bit and it was quite special to share the field with him. I tried to embrace it and play with a smile on my face. When Virat walked out to bat and the crowd went off… that's amazing sort of stuff… I think that's going to live with me forever. It's awesome to get the opportunity to mix it with guys like that,” the Australian spinner told the official broadcaster.

“I think that the Indian guys, they use their hands really well. They get their hands out in front of their pads and you've got a lot of scoring options too, so, always a really difficult challenge there. And yeah, it was quite tough,” he added.

“It's been a pretty special couple of days and I suppose to top the day off with a fifer is more than I could ever hope for. It's gonna be something that I'll look back on the rest of my life and be really proud of,” Todd Murphy elaborated.

“There's the excitement about just being out there and trying to embrace it and enjoy it. And getting involved. These sort of guys are some of the best players in the world. That's exciting and I've sort of got nothing to lose. So, I just went out there and tried to really enjoy it and compete as hard as I can. And thankfully, that has a few rewards. So yeah, I didn't try and get too overawed by it,” the 22-year-old explained.

“It's been a pretty special couple of days and I suppose to top the day off with a fifer is more than I could ever hope for. It's gonna be something that I'll look back on the rest of my life and be really proud of,” he concluded.