Team India skipper Virat Kohli, who decided to skip the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur to manage his workload, returned to India’s playing XI for the ongoing second Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He, however, had an disappointing outing in the first innings as he was dismissed for a duck by Ajaz Patel. After winning the toss, Kohli opted to bat first against a Kane Williamson-deprived New Zealand side. Openers Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal gave the hosts a solid start as the pair added 80 runs for the first wicket.
Having seemingly taken control of the first innings on Day one, India lost three wickets without troubling the scorer as Patel struck thrice in quick succession to remove Gill (44), Cheteshwar Pujara (0) and Kohli (0), reducing India to 80/3.
While Gill and Pujara’s dismissals were pretty straightforward, Kohli’s wicket sparked a debate on social media.
The Mumbai-born spinner made a massive appeal and Kohli was given out by the on-field umpire. However, the batter went upstairs to review the decision.
The replay showed that the ball was fitting between the bat and the pad as Kohli was on his front foot to defend the delivery.
It appeared that one half of the ball was near the inside edge and the other on the pad and thus it became difficult for the TV umpire to find conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision.
Former India batter Wasim Jaffer took to social media to share his opinion on Kohli’s unfortunate dismissal.
Despite acknowledging the “conclusive evidence” argument, Jaffer said that Kohli was “unlucky” to be given out as the decision should’ve been overturned.
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“That was bat first in my opinion. And I understand the ‘conclusive evidence’ part. But I think this was an instance where common sense should have prevailed. But as they say common sense is not so common. Feel for Virat Kohli. #Unlucky,” he Jaffer wrote on Koo.
India were 111/3 at Lunch after Mayank completed his half-century.
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