Visakhapatnam: It was complete chaos in the middle as Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli ran a course on how not to communicate while you run between the wickets on day one of the second India versus England Test in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
Indian Test skipper joined Pujara in the middle after Murali Vijay got out off James Anderson. Although the pair looked composed before and after the incident, they threatened to take away Indian cricket fans’ hopes of revival in a series of poor calls for runs. None more, in the 18th over of the Indian innings.
On the first ball of the over, Kohli dabbed an Adil Rashid delivery to the leg side and took off for a run. Pujara meanwhile looked in a big trouble as Joe Root rushed in and threw it towards the wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow whipped off the bails as the on-field umpire referred the run-out decision to the third umpire.
Fortunately for Pujara and for India, his dive in the end meant that his bat was inside the crease by the time the bails were dislodged. Phew!
Cheteshwar Pujara had to dive to save his wicket. (Photo: BCCI)
But even before those nerves could settle down, the duo got involved in another piece of poor calling.
On the third ball of the same over, Kohli hit one through the off-side where diving Stuart Broad could not stop the single. Pujara thought there was an opportunity to go for the second run as Kohli screamed against it.
Pujara ran for what he thought was a double, only to turn back, losing his bat in between all the drama and rushed to make it home before the throw from Moeen Ali could reach at Bairstow’s end. The Saurashtra batsman was lucky as despite losing his bat he made it well in time to save his wicket as Kohli did not look too pleased with the turn of the events.
Virat Kohli looked on in disbelief as confusion between him and Cheteshwar Pujara almost cost India a wicket. (Photo: Screengrab)
While India were lucky twice in space of three balls, Kohli and Pujara had to get involved in a mid-pitch conference.
So stunned was commentator Nasser Hussain that he went on to say: “Have these two ever batted together?”
The interaction definitely did wonders as they managed to get their communication and calling for runs back on track barring a minor incident in the 26th over. But that, if compared with the earlier two, was devoid of any drama.
