Ranchi: There was no end to the teasing and taunting between Indian and Australian cricketers with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell on Saturday mocking home captain Virat Kohli’s shoulder injury in the ongoing third Test here.
Kohli’s participation in the match had been thrown into jeopardy after he hurt his shoulder while fielding on Thursday.
The talismanic batsman was left clutching his right shoulder in pain after he dived while fielding at the mid-on area and later scans revealed that he had suffered a strain and missed fielding action for 400 minutes on day two.
But the Indian captain did come out on Saturday, only to be dismissed for six by Pat Cummins — continuing his poor run with the bat in the current series. Kohli’s scores read 0,13, 12,15 and six in the five innings he has batted so far.
Maxwell, who had struck a brilliant hundred on Friday, was seen mocking Kohli’s injury when he imitated the Indian skipper’s action by clutching his right shoulder after his dive to save a boundary in the 81st over.
Pujara had flicked through the mid-on off Cummins and Maxwell gave a fine chase at the deep, exactly in the same region where Kohli endured that awkward dive to injure his right shoulder in the post-lunch session of day one.
Maxwell’s mocking of Kohli continued the hostilities which started with Smith’s ‘DRS Brain-fade’ in the second Test in Bengaluru.
The Australian skipper was caught seeking dressing room clues before taking a DRS call, evoking a sharp reaction from Kohli.
In fact, Kohli had stopped just short of labelling Smith a “cheat” and alleged that the visiting captain had looked up the dressing room repeatedly.
Smith, on his part, had called Kohli’s assertions complete rubbish.
The star batsman underwent scans to his affected shoulder and was later cleared to play by the Indian board’s medical team with no “serious injury concerns”.
Kohli, 28, walked out to bat at the start of the afternoon session after overnight batsman Murali Vijay lost his wicket at the stroke of lunch.
The captain was greeted with loud cheers by the home crowd at India’s newest Test venue.
But Kohli’s stay was shortlived after he was caught by his opposite number Steve Smith at second slip off fast bowler Pat Cummins for six. He faced 23 deliveries.
The four-match series between the world’s top two sides is tantalisingly poised at 1-1 with India needing at least a draw to have any chance of winning back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
