India’s leg-spinner Karn Sharma recalled how Virat Kohli motivated the whole team to go for the target in the 2014 Adelaide Test match against Australia. The 2014 Adelaide Test between Australia and India was the first assignment for Virat Kohli as India’s captain. Kohli played two of his best Test knocks and almost pulled off an unprecedented triumph. The right-hander scored 115 runs in the first dig and followed it with another masterpiece of 141 runs in the second essay.
In fact, India fell short by only 48 runs in the end but Kohli had announced himself as the captain. The right-hander went on to show that he will always choose to win if there is an option between a draw and victory. The talisman could have batted defensively and drawn the Test match but he decided to go for the win.
Even though India lost that Test match but it gave a shot in the arm to the players that they could win from any situation if they give their best.
Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had scored half-centuries in the first innings whereas Vijay scored another fine knock of 99 runs in the second essay. However, Kohli was on a different level in the first Test match and brought his best to the table.
Australia had set up an imposing total of 364 runs but the visitors were skittled out for 315 runs. Kohli’s 141 in the second innings is regarded as one of his best-ever innings in the red-ball format.
Meanwhile, Karn Sharma made his Test debut in the same match and returned with four wickets in the game.
“Making my Test debut against Australia in Australia will always remains special. Very few people get that type of start. The dressing room atmosphere was quite good. Ravi Shastri, the coach, was there. We were chasing over 300 runs in that match and Virat said ‘no draw. We are going to chase it down’. That injected a lot of positivity among players in the dressing room,” Sharma said on Manjot Kalra’s YouTube Channel.
“It was a different approach. Different captain has a different approach, But ever since he said we are chasing over 300 in the fourth innings of a Test – which was very tough in Australian conditions – it sends a wonderful indication to the players in dressing room, that your captain has different plans,” he added.
On the other hand, Kohli struggled to get going on the 2014 tour of England as he could only manage 134 runs in five Test matches.
“He didn’t get runs but to be honest, it never looked as if he was out of form. He always gave that impression that everything is fine. Through his preparations, fitness, mental approach, Kohli never appeared too bothered or was fretting over the fact that he had a bad Test series,” Sharma said during the same discussion.
Kohli will be next seen in action in the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
