Twitter Reactions: Kohli’s 41st ton goes in vain as Australia stays alive in the series

It was a do-or-die game for Australia after being 2-0 down in the series. They raised their game at the right time and found the first win of the series. This was by far the best performance by the visitors in the 3 games so far. Ranchi, the home of MS Dhoni, didn’t see its favorite son winning the game for the country this time.

Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl, expecting dew to make an impact during the chase. The Australian openers, who hadn’t made much of an impact thus far, were determined to do well. They saw off the new ball and the captain Aaron Finch found back his touch. Along with Usman Khawaja, he laid the foundation.

The Indian bowlers were wicketless until the 32nd over when Kuldeep Yadav finally provided the breakthrough. He ended Finch’s knock of 93. But the opening stand had put 193 runs on the board. Glenn Maxwell was promoted to No.3 and he was explosive from the outset. On the other hand, Khawaja played a calm hand and brought up his maiden ODI century.

Just after getting there, he fell to Mohammed Shami for 104. Maxwell fell prey to a wonderful run out courtesy a combined effort by Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni. At the death, India came storming back and restricted Australia to 313/5. At one stage, it seemed as if the visitors would cross 350 easily.

Kohli’s lone battle ended in a loss

India’s worries at the top continued as both the openers departed quickly. While Shikhar Dhawan was sent back for 1 by Jhye Richardson, Pat Cummins removed Rohit Sharma for 14. To add to the trouble, Cummins castled Ambati Rayudu with a jaffa. India was down to 27/3 in the 7th over.

Kohli and Dhoni came together to rescue the side from that position. They added 59 runs for the 4th wicket. Kohli was fluent from the beginning. Just as Dhoni was beginning to come to his own, he was bowled by Adam Zampa for 26. However, Kohli wasn’t perturbed. He kept going in his usual demeanor.

First, it was Kedar Jadhav and then, Vijay Shankar who gave good company to the captain. Kohli reached his 41st ton in the 35th over and was single-handedly taking his side close. But his knock ended at 123 from 95 balls as Zampa bagged the prized scalp. Shankar and Jadeja fought at the end but it was too little too late. India bundled out for 281 as the scoreline read 2-1 in favor of the hosts.

Match Summary

India won the toss and opted to bowl first

Australia: 313/5 in 50 overs

Usman Khawaja 104 ( 113), Aaron Finch 93 (99)

Kuldeep Yadav 64/3 (10), Mohammed Shami 52/1 (10)

India: 281/10 in 48.2 overs

Virat Kohli 123 (95), Vijay Shankar 32 (30)

Jhye Richardson 37/3 (9), Pat Cummins 37/3 (8.2)

Australia won by 32 runs

Player of the Match: Usman Khawaja

 

India lost but Twitterati can’t get over Virat Kohli

Top order failure is not that bad a thing for India as the middle-order is getting the much-needed game time. But the top order can't fail for too long.
One positive like always though – @imVkohli is batting at another level.#INDvsAUS3rdODI #INDvsAUS #INDvAUS

— Shubham Khare (@shubhamkhare71) March 8, 2019

He's scoring centuries for fun. He has 40 in the bag and then he produces a memorable 41st. What a time to be watching cricket. The Kohli Era.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 8, 2019

Excellent century from Usman Khawaja. I thought at the time that his dismissal may not be such a bad thing for Australia but it has worked the other way.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 8, 2019

500 ODI runs for Virat Kohli in 2019 and we are just in the first week of March! #IndvAus

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 8, 2019

It isn’t this easy. It isn’t a joke, but this man has made it a joke.
41st for King Kohli. #IndvAus

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) March 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/sirjadeja/status/1104030671675232256

Virat Kohli will have 60+ batting average in ODI cricket after this game irrespective of whatever he scores.

He has now batted 217 innings; the highest number of innings after which a player had 60+ ODI batting average. Previous: 109 innings by Michael Bevan. #INDvAUS

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) March 8, 2019

Virat Kohli now 12th ODI captain (& also the quickest) to aggregate 4000 runs and the 4th Indian to do so!
Fewest innings to 4000 ODI runs as captain
63 – Virat Kohli
77 – AB de Villiers#IndvAus

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/malhotrasaurabh/status/1104029601381212160

Virat Kohli in India's milestone ODI wins:

400th win – 128* vs SL in 2012, Colombo
450th win – 138 vs SA in 2015, Chennai
500th win – 116 vs AUS in 2019, Nagpur#INDvAUS

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) March 5, 2019

This is Virat Kohli's world, and we're all just living in it. #INDvAUS

— Sreshth Shah (@sreshthx) March 8, 2019

OMG! Virat Kohli is just 9 hundreds away from Sachin Tendulkar’s tally in ODI cricket. #KingKohli

— Madhav Sharma (@HashTagCricket) March 5, 2019

Virat is batting on a different pitch #indvsaus

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 8, 2019

Many are asking #VijayShankar or #HardikPandya … May be both ? But a very tough one .. I see a lot of discipline and method in how #Vijay approaches his game. Both are assets to the side and worth keeping them in the squad to begin with #INDvAUS

— Mikkhail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) March 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/Ian_Bell/status/1104031072906551297

The more you watch @imVkohli the more you realise the value of not conceding defeat. But he can’t be the only one carrying the team on his shoulders alone #Indvaus

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) March 8, 2019

Virat Kohli..
41st ODI 100
8th against Australia
19h in India
28th in Asia
3rd in 2019
19th as captain
2nd at Ranchi#IndvAus

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 8, 2019

 

Also Read: Who will win the ODI World Cup 2019? Here are the top 5 contenders

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