Virat Kohli hurls a mouthful after 'umpire's call' makes him Mitchell Santner's victim for second time in a row
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Virat Kohli was livid. He even uttered a few words - pretty sure it wasn't pleasant - twirled the bat in his hand in disgust, and then finally started to walk back towards the pavilion. Death silence engulfed the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, as it generally is when Kohli's wicket falls early. But Saturday was slightly more eerie. Perhaps because Kohli had gotten off to a start. Perhaps because of the situation of the match - India desperately needed Kohli to stand tall in achieving the near-impossible 357-run chase. Or it could well have been the mode of dismissal.
When 'umpire's call' doesn't go in your favour, you always feel hard done by. That explained Kohli's disappointment while walking back to the hut. In Kohli's defence, the ball did hit him straight in front of the leg stump. On most days, with the left-armer's angle, the ball would go on to slide down the leg side. He was totally justified in sending it upstairs when umpire Richard Illingworth raised his finger. But Mitchell Santner is slightly different than the other round-arm left-arm spinners. He has this unique ability to just make the ball hold its line despite the angle. That's exactly what happened in Kohli's case.
Ball tracking showed the ball would have gone on to clip the leg stump and that's all that New Zealand needed to uphold the decision. Kohli, of course, did not like it one bit. Whether his disappointment was with the ball-tracking or the on-field umpire's call cannot be said with certainty but he definitely cannot shy away from another misjudgement of length.
Kohli played back to a length delivery from Santner. What also contributed to his downfall was his tendency to work the ball towards the onside instead of offering a straight bat. He was dismissed by Santner in both innings of this Test as his numbers against spin continued to paint to sorry tale.
Take out the 70-run knock in the second innings of the previous Test; Kohli has had a pretty ordinary year in Test cricket so far with scores of 46, 12, 6, 17, 47, 29*, 0, 1, and 17.
India in real trouble in Pune
India caved in against left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (5/72), stuttering to 178 for seven at tea in their second innings against New Zealand on the third day of the second Test.
In the second innings, India lost wickets in a heap on a rather biting pitch against Santner after making a confident start to their chase, courtesy conditions-defying 77 from opener Yashasvi Jaiswal off just 65 balls.
His 62-run alliance for the second wicket with Shubman Gill was the finest phase of the Indian essay.
