Kohli looked great today, thought we were in for a masterclass: Steven Smith

‘Could today finally be the day?’ is what everyone was asking, looking at the way Virat Kohli started off his innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). 

After being guilty of continuously nicking off outside off-stump this entire series, Kohli, after walking in at 51/2 on day two, showed great discipline as he left almost everything that was outside his off-stump. The Australian seamers kept tempting him, but Kohli kept resisting the temptation to poke or drive, leaving 33.33% of the first 30 deliveries he faced against the quicks. 

He looked in cruise control, milking runs through the on-side, and it did look like a big score was finally coming. 

But not for the first time, the discipline and rigidity proved to be a false dawn as the right-hander perished in the exact same fashion as he has all series, poking one off the bowling of Scott Boland. And just like that, Kohli’s knock came to an abrupt halt, with the veteran perishing for 36.

Kohli not converting the start into a big score even shocked Steven Smith, who conceded after day two that he felt that a ‘masterclass’ from Kohli’s bat was inevitable.

“He is a class player, we know that. He played really well in Perth, and he looked really good today. I thought he was in for a big one today,” Smith said after day two.

“It [the dismissal] was probably the first ball he played in that fifth-sixth stump line. He was really disciplined today, leaving nicely, making the bowlers come to him a bit, scoring well through the leg-side, and when we went short. Thought we were in for a [Virat] masterclass today. 

“Fortunately, Boland got one to straighten on that fifth-sixth line, and it was one of the very few deliveries [outside off-stump] that Virat played today.”

Kohli’s dismissal, though, did not come against the run of play. It came precisely seven balls after the calamitous run-out of Yashasvi Jaiswal, which gave Australia the breakthrough they were desperately looking for. 

Kohli and Jaiswal had added 102 runs together and were looking at ease. But just when the signs were ominous for the Aussies, a misjudgement between the pair cost India dearly. Eventually, the visitors slipped from 153/2 to 159/5 in the blink of an eye.

Smith admitted that the run-out was ‘huge’ in the context of the game. “It was a huge last hour for us. It was a big play in the context of the game,” he said.

The day itself was a very special one for Smith, who brought up his 34th Test ton - incidentally, his fastest in Tests in nine years. The 140 on day two, Smith’s second ton in as many Tests, has now left him within touching distance of the 10,000-run mark. The 35-year-old is just 51 shy of the landmark and could very well get there in the second innings. 

But while admitting that it was nice to rack up the records, Smith insisted that he does not play the game for numbers’ sake. 

“The numbers aren’t very important to me. I love playing, I love scoring runs and helping the team. Getting to milestones along the way is cool, but it’s not the reason I play [the sport],” he said.

Asked about teenage sensation Sam Konstas, who set up the game for the hosts with his assault on Jasprit Bumrah on the first day, Smith was full of praise for the youngster. The veteran said that he was in awe of the courage, confidence and clarity showcased by the 19-year-old.

“You gotta have some serious courage to do what he did yesterday,” Smith said of Konstas.

“That first over Bumrah beat him three or four times and I actually thought Sam [Konstas] played it really well, played down the line. For a kid to have the confidence to start lapping and reverse-lapping, arguably one of the best bowlers to have played the game, shows some serious confidence and courage in the kid. 

“That swung momentum our way. [Chief selector] George [Bailey] said that we wanted to show something different against the new ball and we certainly saw that yesterday.”

But does Smith truly believe that scoops and reverse-scoops against the new ball was a peek into the future of Test cricket?

“If that’s the future then maybe it’s time for me to finish,” the former Aussie skipper joked.