Advertisement

Virat Kohli cops backlash after brutal failure as Josh Hazlewood makes Aussie history

The Indian icon is facing severe backlash after a horror opening session.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·4-min read

Indian fans are questioning why Virat Kohli appears to be immune to being dropped after Josh Hazlewood stunned the Indian line-up with a 2-6 opening spell to bring up a record for the Aussie bowling quartet. After India made the shock call to drop Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja, all the talk was how an out-of-form Kohli would deal with one of the best cricket fast-bowling trios of all-time.

And it didn't take long for Hazlewood to make his mark on the Aussie summer as he dismissed Devdutt Padikkal, before Kohli edged a bouncing delivery to Usman Khawaja to hand the towering bowler his second wicket of the summer in the first session. Hazelwood has now dismissed Kohli 10 times in Test match cricket.

Indian fans are questioning Virat Kohli's (pictured right) position in the team after Josh Hazlewood stunned the Indian line-up to bring up a record for the Aussie bowling quartet. (Getty Images)
Indian fans are questioning Virat Kohli's (pictured right) position in the team after Josh Hazlewood stunned the Indian line-up to bring up a record for the Aussie bowling quartet. (Getty Images)

This is more than any other Australian and second to only Tim Southee from New Zealand. Hazlewood has Kohli's number and it could be an extremely long summer for the Indian icon if he can't turn around his form, which has plummeted in red-ball cricket across the last five years.

To make matters more impressive for the Aussie bowlers in Perth they made history for their nation. Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc took the opening four between them, which brought up a record wicket-haul for the bowlers. India finished at 4-51 heading into lunch. Hazlewood, Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon have now taken 500 wickets between them when all four start in a Test match.

Cummins leads the quartest with 130 - when all bowlers start together - with Hazlewood and Starc remarkably share 124 wickets together. Lyon is close behind on 122.

All the talk heading into the first Test was how Kohli was going to tackle the Australian bowlers having struggled for runs this year. Kohli looked composed for his five runs in Perth, before pushing at a bouncing delivery from Hazlewood. Unfortunately, it raises a more serious dilemma for India going forward. Kohli averages a staggering 54.08 when batting in Tests in Australia after scoring 1352 runs from 13 matches - an incredible record for a visiting batter.

However, he has only averaged 22.27 in 2024. He has only managed to average more than 50 once in a calendar year in the last five years. And his summer could be a long one having failed early against Hazlewood.

Virat Kohli walks off the field after being dismissed.
Virat Kohli (pictured) only got five runs against Australia and is facing harsh backlash over his form.

Fans also questioned why he was immune to being dropped when Ashwin and Jadeja were not included. The WACA is known for its bounce and speed, which saw India go with four quicks. However, Lyon has often enjoyed the bounce as an off-spinner in Perth and India may have missed a trick in not including at least allrounder Jadeja in the line-up.

RELATED:

“It is a bit of a surprise if I’m being honest. I thought one of them might play, definitely,” Aussie cricket great Mike Hussey said on Fox Sports. “You see how important Nathan Lyon is for Australia. Nathan Lyon has actually got the most wickets out of the Australian bowlers here in Perth, so he’s the key man for Australia and what that does is allows the captain to rotate the fast bowlers around from the other end.”

This marks only the figth Test match, since Jadeja and Ashwin debuted together, that they have been left out of the starting line-up when available. But fans were then questioning why Kohli appears to be immune to the axe as he continues a horror run of form.