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'Spent over 8 hours batting in this heat...': Ex-India star hints at 'worry' on Virat Kohli 'playing through sickness'
Virat Kohli produced an incredible knock on Sunday, as he smashed 186, reaching his 28th century during the fourth and final Test against Australia.
Team India star Virat Kohli produced a solid outing on Day 4 of the fourth and final Test of the series against Australia, as he smashed 186, taking India's score to a strong 570/9 in the first innings. Kohli ended a long wait to reach three-figure mark in the longest format of the game, with his last century in the whites coming in November 2019 against Bangladesh. The star India batter fell short of his eighth double hundred after he was forced to go for a big hit, owing to a flurry of wickets in the lower order.
Following his innings, Kohli's wife Anushka Sharma made a major revelation on her official Instagram account, indicating that the batter was sick throughout his knock. “Playing through sickness with this composure. Inspiring me always,” Anushka wrote on her profile.
While Axar Patel, who had stitched a 162-run stand with Kohli in the middle on Sunday, stated that the batter didn't seem under the weather, former India bowler Ajit Agarkar stated that Kohli might have fallen ill due to intense heat in Ahmedabad.
“One of the standout features of his career has been fitness, he works really hard. He spent over 8 hours batting in this heat, so you are bound to have some worry. But, if you have still carried on, it didn't feel like it. I don't think he missed any runs while running between wickets,” Agarkar said on Star Sports.
“It's always been the case. All great players do that, they find the extra energy and his determination showed in this innings. He was determined to get the big runs and then you find the extra ounce of energy.”
Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden, meanwhile, hailed Kohli and stated that his innings brought India back in the game.
"When you think back to the start of the day, we were talking about how India were controlling this Test match. At that point, though, it wasn't. It took something really special. It took an all day batting effort. You can even see at the end when Indian batsmen, Virat Kohli and Axar Patel, they found it really hard to hit big sixes and fours. It wasn't that sort of a wicket. It required to construct an innings for a long period of time.
“That's exactly what Virat did. Facing ball after ball, some good partnership. The day belonged to Virat in a very unique way, calm and composed. Constructed at a time when India really needed it,” Hayden said.
