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India batter Virat Kohli, who's going through a rough patch, survived a first-ball duck at the ongoing Sydney Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia after third-umpire ruled out Steve Smith's fielding effort on Friday.
The incident took place in the 7.5 over of India's first session, Virat Kohli walked in as he replaced Yashasvi Jaiswal on the crease. Kohli faced Australia pacer Scott Boland in his first ball and got saved from another embarrassment. The Aussie pacer delivered a length ball which took an edge from Kohli's bat and went down to Smith. The Aussie batter who was standing on the slips scooped it up but the ball just touched the turd before it was taken by the Smith's compatriot at gully. The on-field umpire immediately went upstairs, to the third umpire, Joel Wilson who had a good look from all the camera angles and gave his decision in favour of India. Except for an unbeaten 100 in the first Test at Perth, the Aussies have managed to keep Virat quiet as he has managed just 26 runs in his other four innings, including three single-digit scores. The decade of 2020s has not been kind to Virat the Test batter. In 37 Tests and 64 innings, he has managed just 1,964 runs at an average of 31.67, with just three centuries and nine fifties and best score of 186. In the ongoing ICC World Test Championship final, Virat has scored 687 runs at an average of 36.15 in 12 matches and 21 innings, with two centuries and three fifties and the best score of 121. During the time of toss, talisman India pacer Jasprit Bumrah came out in the blazer and confirmed that top-order batter Rohit Sharma opted to rest for the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney. Earlier at the Sydney Test on Friday, Jasprit Bumrah-led India won the toss and decided to bat against Australia at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground. Australia (Playing XI): Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland. India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (C), Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj. (ANI)
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