Australia offspinner Nathan Lyon opened up on the huge mix-up between Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal later on the second day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The mix-up later resulted in Jaiswal’s run out and opened the floodgates for the hosts.
Nathan Lyon tried to play mind games by claiming that the run-out came out suddenly out of nowhere when the two Indian batters were building a strong partnership. Kohli and Jaiswal were batting exceptionally well and it looked like they would close out the day without much fuss.
However, Australia’s moment arrived when Jaiswal was unfortunately run out for a brilliant 82 off 118 balls. India went on to lose two more wickets in a short span of time before stumps on Day 2. One of those two wickets was of Virat Kohli.
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Nathan Lyon on Virat Kohli-Yashasvi Jaiswal run out
While speaking to ABC Sport after the end of day’s play, Nathan Lyon seemed to suggest that Australia were gifted a treat with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal late in the day. He admitted that India were cruising along and the wicket came out of the blue.
“It was probably one of the best barbecues I’ve seen. It came out of the blue. They were doing it pretty easy out there. I know pressure does funny things and we were able to build that little bit of pressure – that’s what it felt like anyway. Silly run outs are coach killers, aren’t they?” Lyon said.
Lyon was referring to the pressure that Australian bowlers and fielders created on Jaiswal and Kohli for a brief period. Jaiswal even smashed a boundary off the previous ball but a rush of blood from the youngster resulted in his wicket.
Virat Kohli also dismissed later
Virat Kohli was also dismissed after the fall of Jaiswal’s wicket in what was a highly disappointing period of play for India. He scored 36 off 86 balls in an innings where he looked assured at the crease. Kohli struck 4 fours in his knock.
Kohli was tested by the Australian bowlers on the fourth and fifth stump but he was determined enough to leave the balls and concentrate hard on his defence. However, Jaiswal’s run out broke his concentration and he was finally dismissed when he went for a wide length ball from Scott Boland and edged it to the wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
During the course of this series, Kohli hasn’t been at his best as he has been constantly tested outside the off stump. Apart from this innings and his century in Perth, he has failed to get a big score under his belt.
Australia inch ahead of India
India also lost the wicket of the night-watchman Akash Deep after Virat Kohli’s dismissal. By the end of the day’s play, the Men in Blue were 164-5 with Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease. India are still 310 runs behind and still need 110 runs to avoid the follow-on.
Earlier, Australia scored a mammoth total of 474 in their first innings on the back of a magnificent hundred from Steve Smith and fifties from the top three batters Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, and Marnus Labuschagne.