'One of the worst': Virat Kohli feat overshadowed by India's DRS dramas
India has endured a horror run with DRS in the first innings of the third one-day match against Australia as the home side looks to complete a whitewash at Manuka Oval.
The best of three series was already won thanks to resounding victories for Australia in the first two matches in Sydney, but India’s hopes of salvaging some pride from the three-match series were dealt a blow with Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill all falling fould of the decision review system.
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The rot set in early for India when opener Shikhar Darwan spooned a catch to Ashton Agar, but things would only go from bad to worse.
Agar came on to bowl a short time later and soon claimed the wicket of Gill, drawing an ill-timed sweep shot out of the Indian batsman and hitting his pad.
The decision to review was an inspired one! ☝
Hazlewood gets Kohli for the third time this series! #OhWhatAFeeling@Toyota_Aus | #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/9gRYWxHPxY— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 2, 2020
The umpire gave him out but Gill elected to challenge the call - his review showing it was the umpire’s call as to whether the delivery would have hit the bails.
While an argument could be made that Gill was unlucky, Rahul did not have that luxury.
In a wicket that bore some similarity to Gill’s, Rahul opted to review his own mistimed sweep shot - only this time the DRS showed Agar’s delivery would have cannoned into middle stump.
123/4. Really tame dismissals....one after the other. India’s won the toss but lost its advantage. Need some magic from here on to salvage the innings. #AusvInd
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 2, 2020
2 of the most plumb & obvious LBW dismissals 👌 Left arm spinner #Agar rocking the Indian batting, sending back Rahul & the well-set Gill. "You miss, I hit the pads"
Indians referring both the decisions, & getting snubbed 😑 They were that plumb in front!#AUSvIND— Kaushik LM (@LMKMovieManiac) December 2, 2020
That's one of the worst reviews in recent memory #AUSvIND
— Tim Michell (@tim_michell) December 2, 2020
What's more worrying to me is Indian batsmen are now struggling to dominate spinners and getting out to them on Australian pitches... #AUSvIND #Cricket
— Sudipto Ganguly (@Sudipto_Reuters) December 2, 2020
Rahul’s call to review was panned by fans on Twitter, but the ignominy would continue for India when Australian captain Aaron Finch elected to review what he believed had been an edge through to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Kohli would consider himself hard done by when the field umpire’s original decision of not out was reversed after the DRS was called for, with the snickometer revealing the barest of edges.
Kohli shatters ODI record despite DRS drama
The awful run of luck with DRS took some of the shine away from an impressive feat by Kohli on his way to an innings of 63, during which he became the fastest player in ODI history to reach 12,000 runs.
The Indian captain achieved the feat in just 242 innings - a remarkable feat considering the next fastest batsman to 12,000 runs was Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar took 300 innings to reach the same mark - underlining just how dominant Kohli has been in ODI matches to date.
Despite the early setbacks in their innings, India were able to recover well to set Australia a target of 303.
Hardik Pandya (92 n/o) and Ravindra Jadeja (66 n/o) rebuilt India’s innings, combining for a century partnership to set the home side a competitive total to chase down.
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