Aakash Chopra has applauded Team India Test captain Virat Kohli for keeping his ego aside and giving the charge to Rishabh Pant on Day 3 of the third Test against South Africa.
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Former India opener turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has applauded Team India Test captain Virat Kohli for keeping his ego aside and giving the charge to Rishabh Pant on Day 3 of the third Test against South Africa. While Kohli scored 29 runs off 143 balls, Pant smashed a ravishing century.
Notably, Virat Kohli played the second fiddle to Pant during their 94-run fifth-wicket partnership. While reviewing India’s batting performance in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra applauded the Indian skipper’s patient knock.
He said: “It was absolutely shutter down. The one thing I liked about Kohli is that there is no ego. He said he is the hero but he is happy being the hero’s brother. You play Rishabh Pant, I will play second fiddle. Fantastic Virat Kohli.”
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He continued: “He kept on leaving deliveries – so much patience, dedication, determination and to know your off-stump. We have seen very few times that he has played 143 balls and scored 29 runs, even in that he got a boundary each of Rabada and Keshav Maharaj on the legs.”
Virat Kohli hit just four boundaries during his 29-run knock. However, apart from a boundary through the covers off Marco Jansen, his other three came from the leg side as well. However, Aakash Chopra also opened up on whether Kohli has played against his nature which saw his dismissal as well.
He explained: “But one more thing was felt that did he go too much into his shell because this is not his nature. His nature is to dominate while playing cricket. You can associate this with Pujara because he keeps leaving deliveries and it doesn’t affect him.”
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Meanwhile, he also believed that Virat Kohli might have lost patience and thereby lost his wicket. He stated that as Kohli went to play a cover drive off Lungi Ngidi’s outside the off-stump delivery. But, he could only manage an outside edge and Aiden Markram did no mistake in the slip.
“Was it the reason that he flirted with a widish delivery because till when will you keep your natural instinct in check. But it was a very good knock because there was a partnership,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
