India skipper Virat Kohli again fell short of the three-figure mark as he walked back after scoring a 79-ball 66 in the second ODI against England in Pune on Saturday. Though Kohli stitched a 121-run stand with KL Rahul to lay the foundation for a big total, the prolific batsman ultimately fell prey to Adil Rashid for the ninth time in international cricket.
Kohli, who got a life on 35 after wicketkeeper Jos Buttler dropped a regulation chance off Rashid's delivery, notched up his 62nd half-century -- his fourth fifty in a row. The 32-year-old, however, was still unable to get to a hundred.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, during the mid-innings break, commented on Kohli's century drought and said that the Indian skipper would be 'disappointed' to miss out on a century again. Kohli's last international ton came 489 days ago against Bangladesh in the Day/Night Test.
"Well, he will be disappointed to an extent. Because when you are batting so well, have done the hard work, you have got to 60. The batsman of that calibre of that greatness will always go on to get three-figure innings. He hasn't been able to quite get that," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
After Kohli's departure, Rahul and Rishabh Pant added 113 runs for the fourth wicket in less than 13 overs. Pant smashed a quick-fire 77 off 40 while Rahul brought up his fifth ODI ton to power India to 336/6 in 50 overs.
"He (Kohli) will be happy that he is building a partnership. That England, despite getting early wickets have not been able to go through the batting line-up. He is helping the team get a platform on which the likes of Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Krunal Pandya can play the big shots and take India past 300," Gavaskar said.
"He is making his contribution as a batsman, no question about it. But there will still be a little bit of disappointment. Every batsman has that. If you get out for 5, 6 in the early stages, you know you got out. You can't do much.
"But when you get to 50-60, every batsman in the world wants to get to a hundred. Great batsmen want to get a big 100, and he is not getting it. So he will be a little bit disappointed for sure," he concluded.
