Kohli fails as India A skittled out for135

Indian Test captain Virat Kohli’s woeful form continued as hosts India ‘A’ were shot out for a paltry 135 by Australia ‘A’ in the second unofficial ‘Test’ match, here on Wednesday.

India A captain Cheteshwar Pujara opted for batting but it took Australia ‘A’ only 68.5 overs to bowl out the hosts as Kohli, on whom lay entire focus, struggled badly during his hour-long innings of 16 that came off 42 balls.

In reply, Australia ‘A’ safely negotiated the final hour reaching 43 without loss in 13 overs with Cameron Bancroft (24 batting) and Usman Khawaja (13 batting) at the crease.

For Australia ‘A’, their whole bowling unit executed the plans perfectly. While paceman Gurinder Singh Sandhu (3/25) had the best figures but it was the left-arm spin twins Steve O’Keefe (2/30) and Ashton Agar (2/23) who dealt the telling blows at the top of the order.

<g data-gr-id="24">Agar</g> in fact, got the prize scalp of Kohli with an arm ball that he failed to negotiate. It was a delivery that came straight as Kohli neither <g data-gr-id="20">linged</g> forward nor went on backfoot as he was struck plumb <g data-gr-id="21">in-front</g>.

It was a frustrating stay at the wicket for the Test captain even though he hit the other left-arm spinner O’Keefe for a straight six and got a boundary off Agar.

Coming back from a month-long vacation, Kohli did look rusty as he did not seem like getting used to the pitch of the deliveries.