"Virat's dismissal was a bit unfortunate" - Childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma during IND vs AUS 1st Test

Former Delhi cricketer and Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma feels that the star batter was a bit unlucky to have been caught down the leg side during the 1st Test between India and Australia in Nagpur.

Kohli's issues with off-spin in Test cricket have been well-documented. The former captain received a lot of stick from the fans when he flicked a delivery from debutant Todd Murphy into the hands of the wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

Speaking to India News, Rajkumar Sharma explained that Virat Kohli had made the right shot selection, but was just 'unfortunate' not to get the desired amount of contact off his bat. He said:

"I feel Virat's dismissal was a bit unfortunate. No batter feels good when he is strangled down the leg side. I think he played the ball on its merit and tried to work it towards the leg side, but was unfortunate to not get enough bat on it to take it past the keeper."

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Cheteshwar Pujara may not play the sweep shot again for a long time: Rajkumar Sharma

Just like Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara received a bit of heat from fans for his questionable shot that got him dismissed. Pujara unleashed a sweep shot to a delivery well outside leg-stump from Murphy but could only hit it straight to short fine leg.

Rajkumar Sharma feels that Pujara is an experienced batter and will go back to the drawing board and work on this mistake. He stated:

"Pujara is an experienced batter and often tries to innovate his game. But if something doesn't work, then he is smart enough to return to his basics. So you may not see him playing the sweep shot again for a long time."

India, at the time of writing, are just two wickets away from handing Australia an embarrassing innings defeat in the Nagpur Test.