Former England captain Michael Vaughan has mocked Virat Kohli over his inability to make the right Decision Review System (DRS) calls in the ongoing five-Test series in Old Blighty.
Vaughan's comments come after Kohli wasted the full quota of DRS reviews — two — inside the 12th over of England's second innings. The India captain received a fair bit of criticism over his calls, which were outrightly poor.
In the 10th over, England opener Keaton Jennings missed a Ravindra Jadeja delivery while trying to sweep. The ball hit him on his pads but the impact was clearly outside the off-stump as the left-hander had gone a long way across for the sweep.
Nonetheless, Kohli went for the review and eventually, the decision stayed with the on-field call, which was not out.
In the 12th over, Jadeja once again was claiming an LBW, this time for Alastair Cook's wicket. The appeal from India's only-spinner came out of nowhere as the impact was once again clearly outside the off-stump.
Kohli, who seemed uninterested, went for the referral once again and ended up blowing up the two reviews in a span of 10 minutes.
"Virat is the best Batsman in the World .. #Fact .. Virat is the worst reviewer in the World .. #Fact, [sic]" Vaughan wrote on Twitter.
As England already amassed a lead of 154 runs, India will be without any more reviews on the Oval track that is offering spinners a fair bit of turn from the rough. The hosts have eight more wickets in hand are well-placed to seal the fifth Test and finish the series with a dominant 4-1 scoreline.
Kohli's struggles with DRS calls are long-standing. In the first home series where DRS was used — also between India and England in 2017 — the impulsive skipper had managed to get only 17 out of 55 calls right — a mere 30.9% success rate. It hasn't gotten any better since then.
However, in the limited-over formats of the game, Kohli has the guidance of MS Dhoni, who, more often than not, has the final say with regards to DRS decisions.
Kohli himself had said in 2017 that Dhoni's ability to judge DRS calls are unmatched. Also, the 36-year-old, being a wicketkeeper, has an ideal view to judge the LBW decisions.
"He's someone who has always been very smart with decision making, as far as appeals are concerned as well. I think his word will be the one word that I will trust as far as DRS is concerned," Kohli had said.
