South Africa VS India, 1st Test: Kohli has been giving away his wicket, says Ashish Nehra

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra felt that Virat Kohli was giving away his wickets to bowlers after the skipper was dismissed for just 35 in the first innings of the first Test against South Africa in Centurion. However the 42-year-old backed the India captain to return to form very soon. Kohli was caught behind at the first slip from Lungi Ngidi’s delivery. It was a very poor way to get out as he chased after a wide delivery outside off-stump which he should have left alone. However India were in a strong position at the end of Day 1 at 272-3 courtesy of  KL Rahul’s century and a half century from Mayank Agarwal.

Stumps on Day 1 of the 1st Test.

A brilliant ton from @klrahul11 as #TeamIndia end the first day on 272/3.

Scorecard – https://t.co/eoM8MqSQgO #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/WwXgVoZd9B

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 26, 2021

Kohli is now without a Test century in 24 innings and hasn’t hit a hundred in any format since November 2019. Although he looked in good touch, hitting four boundaries, once again he failed to convert the good start into a big score. However, Nehra feels that it’s just a matter of time before the 33-year-old reaches triple figures.

“You expect runs from someone like Kohli. He would be unhappy with his performance. But if you look at the stats, Kohli has scored runs in the previous away series in England conditions. He has the hunger to score hundreds and double hundreds and he would be a bit unhappy with himself today.

“Looking at the way he’s been dismissed, it’s a bit of concern. South Africa bowlers made Kohli play a loose shot and this has been a problem lately. Kohli has been giving his wickets to bowlers. Looking at today’s dismissal, we understand how Kohli has been out facing swinging deliveries aimed around the fourth stump. In such cases, you need the batter to leave those deliveries.. we saw that from KL Rahul today,” said Nehra on Cricbuzz.

Kohli will play a big knock very soon: Nehra

Previously also Kohli has struggled with deliveries outside off-stump and he has managed to find a way through. Therefore Nehra believes that the Delhi batter will play a big knock very soon.

“You expect Kohli to play those 135-150 kmph deliveries on the front foot but when the ball starts moving and gets bounce too, any player would face difficulties. We haven’t seen the Kohli whom we saw in 2-3 years but once he gets out of this zone, he will be unstoppable.

“But Kohli’s mentality and understanding of the game will help him score that much-awaited knock. He had scored 74 in the Adelaide Test against Australia this year and another such knock isn’t far away,” Nehra added.