Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg feels Virat Kohli wasn’t in control of his emotions in the second Test match against New Zealand at Pune, which India lost by 113 runs on Saturday. Kohli returned with scores of 1 and 17 in the second Test and could not deliver the goods.
The talisman was bowled on a full toss in the first innings and was plumbed in front of the wickets by Mitchell Santner in the second essay. Furthermore, Kohli registered scores of 0 and 70 in the opening Test at Bengaluru.
Kohli hasn’t been at his best in the recent past and also could not deliver the goods in the two Test matches against Bangladesh.
Hogg feels India took New Zealand lightly and they had to pay the price.
Brad Hogg said on his YouTube Channel, “They took New Zealand too lightly and they are trying to play catch-up cricket. All of a sudden, you saw that mindset shift with Virat Kohli in the first innings of the second Test match. He was more aggressive, the way he strolled out there, the way that he was trying to attack the bowling. He just looked like he was overanalyzing. He looked as if he wasn’t in control of his emotions and it showed in the shot that he played when he got out.”
The former chinaman spinner believes Indian captain Rohit Sharma should pull up his socks with the bat.
“If you look at the technique of Rohit Sharma to Southee, he’s going to have to be a little bit tighter. Virat Kohli has to switch on from ball one.”
Hogg reckons the series loss against the Kiwis is a blessing in disguise for the Indian team as they will be extra motivated to do well against Australia.
“The loss against New Zealand is actually a good thing because it’s made them think, ‘Hang on, we are not quite as good as we think. We should have dominated here but we haven’t. Now we’ve got work to do to say in the World Test Championship competition.’”
“So, they will come down here with a little bit more energy, a little bit more fire, a little bit more heart, and they’ll work a lot harder than probably what they would have done beforehand to make sure they’re ready for that first Test match here in Australia,” Hogg added.
The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.
