Asia Cup 2023: Gautam Gambhir Slams Virat Kohli for Casual Shot Against Pakistan

Gautam Gambhir Slams Virat Kohli for Casual Shot Against Pakistan: Gautam Gambhir criticized Virat Kohli for his uncertainty while facing Shaheen Shah Afridi in the India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 match in Pallekele. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both got bowled by Pakistan’s fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi in the same ODI.

Their dismissals, however, were very different. When contrasted to the two previous deliveries that dropped away and missed Rohit’s bat, Shaheen’s delivery may be described as being nearly impossible. Kohli, on the other hand, was fired as a result of his hesitant footwork and bad shot selection.

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Shaheen’s ball to Rohit was hailed by Waqar Younis and Matthew Hayden as being superb, and they speculated that Kohli had some terrible luck with an inside edge that hit the stumps.

Gautam Gambhir, a former Indian opener, disagreed with this viewpoint. Kohli’s lack of decisiveness in the face of Shaheen Afridi was questioned by him.

“That was a nothing shot, neither forward, neither back. I think was a bit casual. That’s what you get when you play someone like Shaheen Afridi. You don’t know whether to go forward or back,” Gambhir said in commentary on Star Sports.

Pakistan legend Waqar was not so harsh. “Kohli was a touch unlucky. Inside edge, the ball didn’t come on to bat and maybe even kept a bit low. But credit to Shaheen Shah Afridi for altering his length,” he said.

Hayden agreed: “Yeah, inside edge onto the stumps, could have got anywhere,” he said.

The third delivery of the seventh over of India’s batting innings was when this occurrence took place. Rohit, the captain of India, has just been removed by Shaheen with an outstanding delivery following a brief rain delay.

The left-arm bowler pounced on the ball, created bounce, and took it away from Kohli. While attempting to direct it towards third man, the former India skipper instead produced a heavy inside edge that struck the stumps.

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Kohli makes this shot successfully nine out of ten times, but this time was an anomaly for a number of reasons. First off, with only six balls faced in the innings, it was too early to try such a shot.

Additionally, the pitch had already begun to exhibit signs of instability with an uneven bounce in the game’s second over. Last but not least, Kohli was not in a position to cover the ball’s line with a long stride.

Despite getting off to a strong start against Naseem Shah with a stunning cover drive, Kohli was removed after just scoring 4 runs. With two wickets each from Shaheen and Haris Rauf, India was put in a difficult situation.

However, India reached a total of 266 runs owing to a historic fifth-wicket partnership between Ishan Kishan (82) and Hardik Pandya (87). Shaheen grabbed four wickets, while Haris and Naseem each claimed three.