Virat Kohli left completely perplexed by incredible ball

Cricket fans have gone wild with memes after Virat Kohli was absolutely stunned by a ripping ball from England’s Adil Rashid in an ODI at Headingley on Tuesday.

The Indian skipper was cruising on 71 when Rashid spun a ball right past the bat and into the off stump.

Kohli was clearly shocked by the delivery but it was only on a slow-motion replay that you could see just how much – and the fans jumped on it.

English cricket journalist Vithushan Ehantharajah went for ‘#ViratAtTheMovies’ first:

One fan mocked the ECB’s 100-ball tournament idea:

Two went straight to Indian cricket history:

And it also looked vaguely like a big moment in Australian cricket:

In the end, Kohli’s dismissal meant India only set a target of 257 – and Joe Root calmly scored a hundred to drive England home.

So what came next? Yep:

England took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series behind Root’s century, his second in successive matches after his 113 not out over the weekend.

This latest hundred was also Test skipper Root’s 13th in ODIs, taking him past the England record of 12 he had previously shared with Marcus Trescothick.

Tuesday saw Root and one-day captain Eoin Morgan (88 not out) share an unbroken third-wicket stand of 186 as England, first in the ODI rankings to their opponents’ second, ended India’s run of nine straight bilateral series wins in style.

England, who will be bidding to win the World Cup for the first time when they stage next year’s edition, had said they would treat Tuesday’s match as a dress rehearsal for a winner-takes-all game at the showpiece tournament.

And that made the comprehensive manner of their victory all the more satisfying for Morgan’s men.

Kohli accepted his side had been outplayed.

“I thought we were never on the mark as far as runs on the board were concerned, we were 25-30 short,” he said.

“And England were really clinical with the bat and in the field as well.”

with AFP