The buzz around Virat Kohli’s form ahead of the first Test at Adelaide was huge. Kohli middling the ball to perfection in the net session was a huge hit on social media. Naturally, everyone expected him to stand strong and hold on to one end when India lost quick wickets today. But then Usman Khawaja pulled off something he would not have even done in grade cricket.
At the 11th over of the first innings, Pat Cummins lured Kohli by bowling a good length delivery outside off stump line. The Indian skipper went for a drive and edged it to the gully fielder. Khawaja dived to his left and took a one-handed stunner to dismiss the danger man early on in his innings.
An incredible grab from Usman Khawaja on day one, but was it better than this Ricky Ponting screamer back in the day? We asked Punter for his verdict!#AUSvIND | @GilletteAU pic.twitter.com/t2o88nf01i
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2018
Not taking anything away from the Australian but catches like these are pretty common in modern day cricket. However, it is the person who took the catch is under the spotlight. The 31-year-old isn’t exactly known for his agile fielding. It is something he has been working on lately if Mitchell Starc is to believed, which has yielded such outstanding results.
When asked about whether he has seen Usman take a catch like that, Starc said in the post-Day 1 press conference,
Usman Khawaja 3.0, isn’t it? (laughs) He’s on fire. He has made a huge effort over the last nine months and it’s showing in his batting and now his fielding. It was a great catch and probably one he’ll keep bringing up now as well. It was a great effort from him.
Mitchell Starc is pretty confident he’ll be hearing PLENTY more about Usman Khawaja’s catch and Pat Cummins’ run out! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/4Cz65tJoa6
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2018
According to former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, Khawaja has worked on his fitness to be able to pull off a sensational catch like that. Ponting explained the importance of the catch talking to cricket.com.au,
“It’s a great catch because of how much he’s moved to his weak side. But when you add on the fact that it’s Virat Kohli in the first innings of the first Test of the summer, that makes it an even better catch,”
The punter recalled the time he made his debut for Australia and how he has improved over the years,
“I’m on record as saying that when he first came into the side years ago, it was almost an aspect of his game that he hadn’t worked on much. You can see now he’s a bit trimmer, he’s lost a bit of weight, he’s obviously more focused on his fitness and his fielding than ever before. And I think that shows with his batting (and) the way he applies himself as well.”
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