Adam Zampa dismissed Virat Kohli for 78 as Australia looked to restrict India in the Rajkot ODI (Photo Credit: IANS)
New Delhi:
It is now official. Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team skipper and the greatest run-making machine of the modern era, is Australia legspinner Adam Zampa's bunny. After being dismissed in the Mumbai ODI for 16 when he chipped a drive back to the bowler, Kohli fell to some fielding brilliance from Australia as he missed out on the chance to equal Sachin Tendulkar's record of nine centuries against Australia in ODIs. Kohli was batting on 78 and in the 43rd over, Zampa was getting ready to bowl his final over. Zampa flighted a delivery on off stump and Kohli lofted the drive to long off. However, he did not time the shot well and Ashton Agar settled underneath the catch at long off.
Agar, though, was close to the boundary and once he took the catch the momentum was taking him over the ropes. Agar calmly flung the ball back to Mitchell Starc who took the catch. The umpires had a look but Agar's feet were not touching the ropes and Kohli was given his marching orders. This was the fifth time that Zampa had dismissed Kohli in ODIs and this was the fourth consecutive time he had taken his wicket in ODIs. This dismissal in Rajkot made him a proud owner of a record.
In addition to his two Twenty20 International dismissals, Zampa has now dismissed Kohli five times in ODIs whcich makes his tally of seven dismissals in limited-overs cricket the most any bowler has gotten rid of the Indian skipper. The bowler, though, who has gotten rid of him the most times across formats combined is James Anderson with eight, having dismissed him five times in ODIs and three times in ODIs. Nathan Lyon has dismissed Kohli the most in Tests, having gotten his wicket seven times. Ravi Rampaul holds the record for most dismissals in ODIs with six.
Speaking before the second ODI in Rajkot, Zampa was grounded and said with the number of times he has dismissed Kohli, the Indian skipper will be more focused on not getting out in the upcoming matches. "It's going to be an attacking approach. I think if you're on the back-foot and have a defensive mindset then that's when he (Kohli) can get on top of you. The most important thing playing in places like India against these guys is to have a little bit of character. He is a very hard guy to bowl to. He's one of the toughest guys I've ever had to bowl to. After game one (first ODI), he will be even more switched on. It will be a big challenge," Zampa said.
Adam Zampa has dismissed Virat Kohli five times in ODIs and twice in T20Is. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Zampa said Australia had managed to find out a certain Achilles heel in the Indian skipper and they would be wanting to target that in every game.
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"We basically just found that Virat finds leg-spinners hard to line up early in his innings. He's such a great starter, even the other day he was 16 off 14. How much energy he brought to the crease, his running between the wickets, some of the cover drives he played off the quicks. I think it's important to try and have a game plan against him. So we figured out before the last game that it would be good to start with leg-spin to him. I've got him out four times in the last year or so it's nice to have that confidence to bowl to him at the start of his innings," Kohli said.
