The Virat Kohli bouncer that made everyone skip a heartbeat

Virat Kohli hit by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer

Indian captain Virat Kohli was hit on the helmet by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer on the first ball he faced on day 3 of the first Test of the ongoing 4-match series at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

Johnson looked a little lacklustre during his first spell as he went for 34 runs in his first 5 overs with Shikhar Dhawan taking a liking to the 33-year-old. He caused Indian batsmen, especially Murali Vijay, a lot more problems when he was brought back into the attack in the 27th over.

After Johnson hit Vijay on the shoulder, the Chennai-born batsman seemed very reluctant to play on the front foot which led to his downfall a few overs later.

When everyone’s heart skipped a beat

Kohli came to bat after the dismissal of Murali Vijay and Johnson was in no mood to hand India’s star batsman a warm welcome. Kohli attempted to duck out of a short delivery from Johnson, but couldn’t get under the ball and was hit on the front of his helmet.

At that moment, everyone’s thoughts went back to the incident which saw Phillip Hughes hit by a Sean Abbott bouncer in a Sheffield Shield match just a couple of weeks ago. The 25-year-old never recovered from the blow he received at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and passed away in hospital two days later.

The Australian cricket team, who are known to be aggressive and usually love to bring fear into any opposition player, seem to have changed their attitude after Hughes’s death and showed great concern as Johnson and a number of close-in fielders immediately went to the Indian batsman to check on his well-being.

Johnson, who looked visibly shaken for a couple of seconds, was immediately comforted by his captain Michael Clarke.

Kohli shrugged off the knock and went on to score his 7th ?Test hundred.

Australian cricketers show concern for Virat Kohli

A couple of days ago, on the first day of the Test, Australian batsmen Shane Watson and Michael Clarke were welcomed to the crease by bouncers from Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron respectively. Unlike Kohli, the Australian batsmen had ducked out of the delivery well.

The Adelaide crowd, earlier on Tuesday, stood up and applauded when Aaron bowled the first bouncer of the game in the 4th over of the match.

Mitchell Johnson supported by Peter Siddle (L) and Michael Clarke

Changed attitude from last year’s Ashes

The events of today were a far cry from last year’s Ashes, when Johnson had bowled some ferocious bouncers at the English batsmen. Back then, the Australian team seemed to be ruthless and even verbally attacked their opposition.

Clarke, back then, had told English fast bowler James Anderson to get ready for a “broken f**king arm” when he had come out to bat in the second innings of the first Test at the Gabba. David Warner, after the match, continued where his skipper left off and accused English batsmen, Jonathan Trott in particular, of being scared of Johnson’s bowling.

"It does look like they've got scared eyes at the moment, and the way that Trotty got out today was pretty poor and pretty weak," Warner had said.

The Australian opener’s comments came under a lot of criticism after it was learnt that Trott was suffering from a stress-related illness and was forced to take a break from the sport in the middle of the Ashes series.