Team India batters faced the wrath of fans after they failed yet again in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 on Friday (January 3) in Sydney. The visitors were skittled out for 185 in the first innings of the fifth Test of the series at the SCG, handing an early advantage to the hosts, who are leading the series 2-1.
India captain Rohit Sharma opted out of the Test following a poor run of form in the series and handed over the reins to Jasprit Bumrah. Shubman Gill replaced Rohit in the line-up. Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and opted to bat first on a green surface.
The call backfired as the underfire Indian batting unit found life tough on a pacer-friendly pitch. KL Rahul (4), Yashasvi Jaiswal (10), and Shubman Gill (20) departed in the first session, where the visitors could only score 57 runs in 25 overs.
Rishabh Pant (40) tried to rescue his side by putting on a fight alongside Virat Kohli (17) and Ravindra Jadeja (26). However, the trio could not build on their starts, hurting the team's chances of notching a decent total. Jasprit Bumrah (22) played a handy cameo to help India reach 185 before getting all-out during the fag end of the day. In reply, Australia were 9-1 at stumps on Day 1.
Fans were disappointed with Indian top and middle-order batters for their subpar performance. They expressed their reactions by sharing memes on X.
One of the posts, which falsely attributed its content to former India head coach Ravi Shastri, read:
"Virat Kohli is a legend, he should play in the legends league."
Here are some of the other memes:
"He runs out of patience"- Irfan Pathan on Indian batter Virat Kohli after another failure in the 5th Test against Australia BGT 2024-25
Former cricketer Irfan Pathan analyzed Virat Kohli's dismissal in the Sydney Test and opined that the batter might be running out of patience after playing defensively to start his innings. During a discussion on Star Sports about Kohli, Irfan Pathan said:
"He is coming and going in the same fashion outside the off-stump. All of us talk about the great Sachin Tendulkar not playing the cover drive on the same Sydney ground, but he used to play the square cut and uppercut apart from the cover drive, but Virat Kohli doesn't have runs behind square. When he tries to show a lot of discipline, he runs out of patience, and then he tries to play one ball and gets out."
He continued:
"For how long will you show patience? You were playing at a strike rate of around 25. Australia didn't give you any opportunities to score runs on the stumps. Until you bring that shot out, the Australian bowlers will keep doing the same thing. If he shows too much discipline, the entire day will pass and runs won't come."
What do you make of India's first innings total in the Sydney Test? Let us know your opinions in the comments section.
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