Virat Kohli (right) plays a shot on Thursday as Australia's Tim Paine looks on.
Playing the much-anticipated Pink ball Test match against Australia at the Adelaide Oval from Thursday, Indian batsmen failed to impress on Day 1 as barring Virat Kohli, who scored 180-ball 74, none of the Indian batsman were seen in a hurry to put runs on the board. At the end of day's play, the visitors managed to score 233 runs with six of their top order batsmen back in the pavillion.
Kohli, who looked threatening on the day, missed out on a deserving century after getting run out of a poor call by Ajinkya Rahane that too during the last session under the lights.
Former Australian cricketer Michael Clarke felt that Kohli must be angered at missing out on a ton while pointing out that he was the only one who scored runs with an intent.
“He will be fuming he didn’t make 100,” he said on Sky Sports. “He was the pick of the batters and he was the only one that wanted to score runs, everyone else wanted to block it. This has been my concern with India from the start.”
He further tore into Indian batsmen saying with Kohli unavailable for the next three Tests, India will be in deep trouble.
“Their attitude is - see this new ball off. I’ve said it before, against Australia in Australia you will get one with your name on it. You’ll get a good ball. You’ll nick it and you’ll be out, all of a sudden you’ll lose two in a row and put your team under so much pressure.
“Can you imagine this Indian batting line-up without Virat Kohli for the next two Test matches? They are in deep trouble. At stages, it was very hard to watch.”
Clarke dismissed arguments that the conditions and strong Australian attack dictated India’s approach, instead of maintaining they had to change it up while pointing at Cheteshwar Pujara's 160-ball 43 knock.
