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Mark Waugh's 'don’t think he’s at his pure best...' comment after Virat Kohli smashes 186 vs Australia raises eyebrows
Former Australia batter Mark Waugh reacted to Virat Kohli's 186-run knock in the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad. It was Kohli's 28th Test ton and his 75th one overall.
Virat Kohli ended his over three-year wait for a Test century on Sunday, scoring a masterful 186 off 364 balls in the fourth Test against Australia. The match ended in a draw on Monday, thus securing a 2-1 win for India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and a place in the World Test Championship final, which was confirmed even before Tea on Day 4 after Sri Lanka lost to New Zealand in the thrilling first Test between the two sides.
The century was Kohli's 75th in international cricket and his 28th in Tests. His last ton in the longest format of the game had come in November 2019 against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in what was India's first-ever pink-ball Test. With the ton, Kohli finished the series as India's top scorer, jumping past Axar Patel and captain Rohit Sharma.
Former Australia opener Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket that Kohli seemed set to score a century right from the time he walked out to bat on Day 3. Kohli had to see off a tricky last over of the second session from Nathan Lyon on Saturday with Cheteshwar Pujara right at the stroke of Tea.
“The drought’s over. The gates have opened,” said Waugh. “You could tell right from the get-go he meant business. He played very few risky shots. He was so patient, just picked the bowling off." Waugh, who had caused a flutter when he heavily criticised Kohli for his slip catching technique while being part of the commentary team in the series for the first two Tests, said that he feels Kohli is not back to the kind of level he was at when he was at his peak before 2019 and yet he performed this well. “I don’t think he’s at his pure best at the moment, as far as his Test career is concerned … but it just shows you his class,” he said.
Kohli was awarded player of the match for the knock. He said that he was happy to have done what the team needed him to do but he was not keen on proving anything by ending the century drought.
"The expectations that I have for myself as a player are more important to me. I think in Test cricket I wasn't able to play with my tempo and template that I have played with for the last 10 years for a while now. So that was the one thing I was trying to do. I felt like I was batting really well from the first innings in Nagpur. But we focussed more on batting as long as possible for the team. I did that for periods but not to the capability that I have done in the past. From that perspective I was disappointed but there was belief there that I was playing well and if I got an opportunity on a decent wicket then I can make a big one," Kohli said in the presentation ceremony.
