The Virat Kohli bouncer that made everyone skip a heartbeat
Virat Kohli hit by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer
Indian captain Virat Kohli was hit on the helmet by a Mitchell Johnson
bouncer on the first ball he faced on day
3 of the first Test of the ongoing 4-match series at the Adelaide Oval on
Thursday.
Johnson looked a little lacklustre during his first spell
as he went for 34 runs in his first 5 overs with Shikhar
Dhawan taking a liking to the 33-year-old.
He caused Indian batsmen, especially Murali Vijay, a lot more problems when he
was brought back into the attack in the 27th over.
After Johnson hit Vijay on the shoulder, the Chennai-born
batsman seemed very reluctant to play on the front foot which led to his
downfall a few overs later.
When everyone’s heart skipped a beat
Kohli came to bat after the dismissal of Murali Vijay and
Johnson was in no mood to hand India’s star batsman a warm welcome.
Kohli attempted to duck out of a short delivery from Johnson, but couldn’t
get under the ball and was hit on the front of his helmet.
At that moment, everyone’s thoughts went back to the
incidentwhich saw
Phillip Hughes hit by a Sean Abbott
bouncer in a Sheffield Shield match just a couple of weeks ago. The
25-year-old never recovered from the blow he received at the Sydney Cricket
Ground (SCG) and passed
away in hospital two days later.
The Australian cricket team, who are known to be
aggressive and usually love to bring fear into any opposition player, seem to
have changed their attitude after Hughes’s death and showed
great concern as Johnson and a number of
close-in fielders immediately went to the Indian batsman to check on his
well-being.
Johnson, who looked visibly shaken for a couple of seconds, was
immediately comforted by his captain Michael Clarke.
Kohli shrugged off the knock and went on to score his
7th Test
hundred.
Australian cricketers show concern for Virat Kohli
A couple of days ago, on the first day of the Test, Australian
batsmen Shane Watson and Michael Clarke were welcomed to the crease by bouncers
from Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron respectively. Unlike Kohli, the Australian
batsmen had ducked out of the delivery well.
The Adelaide crowd, earlier on Tuesday, stood up and applauded
when Aaron bowled the first bouncer of the game in the 4th over of the
match.
Mitchell Johnson supported by Peter Siddle (L) and Michael
Clarke
Changed attitude from last year’s Ashes
The events of today were a far cry from last year’s Ashes, when
Johnson had bowled some ferocious bouncers at the English batsmen. Back then,
the Australian team seemed to be ruthless and even verbally attacked their
opposition.
Clarke, back then, had told English fast bowler
James Anderson to get ready for a “broken
f**king arm” when he had come out to bat
in the second innings of the first Test at the Gabba. David Warner, after the
match, continued where his skipper left off and accused English batsmen,
Jonathan Trott in particular, of being scared of Johnson’s bowling.
"It does look like they've got scared eyes at the moment,
and the way that Trotty got out today was pretty poor and pretty weak,"
Warner had said.
The Australian opener’s comments came under a lot of
criticism after it was learnt that Trott was suffering
from a stress-related illness and was
forced to take a break from the sport in the middle of the Ashes series.
Pasted
from <http:www.sportskeeda.com