Virat Kohli gave a pep talk to the Indian players (Twitter Image)
Virat Kohli was seen giving an intense pep talk to the Indian players ahead of the final session of the day.
Former captain Virat Kohli gave a pep talk to the Indian players in the team huddle ahead of the third session on Day 3 of the World Test Championship Final against Australia at the Oval, London. Kohli relinquished his Test captaincy last year but he still is a leader within the group and the senior most player in the squad.
Despite losing the wicket of David Warner early in the second innings, Australia still held a big edge over India with a big 196-run lead at the Tea. India started the day on the wrong note as KS Bharat was dismissed on the second ball but Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur shared a superb 109-run partnership off 145 balls for the seventh wicket to lead a superb fightback for India and avoid the ignominy of follow-on.
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Rahane (89) took the onus on himself when India lost six wickets for just 152 runs and helped his team avoid follow-on alongside Thakur (51).
Meanwhile, the Indian pacers started strong in the second innings as Mohammed Siraj produced a sensational spell and kept asking tough questions to the Australian batters. India had a breakthrough in the fourth over when Mohammed Siraj got his wobble-seam delivery to seam away and David Warner, shaping to play a drive, got a thick edge which was grabbed by KS Bharat moving low to his left.
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Australia reached 23/1 in 11 overs of second innings at tea on day three with Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne in the middle.
Kohli was seen giving an intense pep talk to the Indian players ahead of the final session of the day. The players listened to their former captain quite sincerely.
While it did work a bit for India as Umesh Yadav got rid of Khawaja early for just 13. While Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne shared a 62-run stand to revive Australia innings before Ravindra Jadeja removed the former to pull India back into the game.
