Virat Kohli, a former India captain, was seen trying to balance his bat on crease as Joe Root did against New Zealand. To the delight of cricket fans it didn’t work out.
Virat Kohli, cricket’s icon, attempted to emulate Joe Root by standing up at the crease with his bat. However, the ex-India captain couldn’t do the trick because his bat couldn’t stand.
Earlier this month, Root left fans stunned after a TV clip went viral showing England’s former captain leaving his bat standing upright without him holding it with either hand during the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s. The moment occurred during Root’s partnership with Ben Foakes on the fourth morning of the match, which England went onto win.
Root stood at the end of the non-striker and was clearly not touching his bat. New Zealand’s Kyle Jamieson came in to bowl. Root was able to hold his bat perfectly straight and allow Root to grab the handle while he was getting ready to run. Root’s amazement was evident to all who saw it.
Kohli was clearly impressed by Root’s move, and was filmed trying to imitate him during India’s warm-up Tour game against Leicestershire. The 33-year old tried to raise his bat twice before giving up.
Michael Vaughan, former captain of England, offered a funny interpretation of the incident. He mentioned the comparisons between the batters. Vaughan wrote: “Virat not in the same Bat balancing league as Joe.”
It was the perfect ending to a bizarre day for Kohli in Leicester. Kohli was in a confident mood after India fell to five.
Although he appeared to be intent on continuing rolling to score a huge score, fast bowler Roamnwalker bowled a full delivery to get Kohli for LBW. Kohli was confused by this call and asked the umpire to clarify the decision. The batter then left the field.
India is currently playing a warm up match against Leicestershire in preparation for their fifth and final Test against England on July 1. This will be after the match was initially suspended at half-way last year because of Covid. The warm-up matches allow players to switch sides. Four Indian players, Prasidh Kshma, Rishabh Pan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Jasprit Bumrah, have already played for the county.
Ultimately, Kohli could not imitate Root’s mastery of his bat. Test Match Special shared the video to Twitter with the caption: “Anyone know how he did this?”You can also use the exploding head Emoji.
Gary Lineker has labelled Root a ‘magician’The 31-year old certainly did the magic against New Zealand that afternoon. Root was unbeaten with 115 runs to help England win five wickets against the Black Caps.
It was Root’s ninth century in Test cricket since the start of 2021, proving he remains one of the finest batsmen in the world.