Lungi Ngidi opines on Kohli’s reaction after Dean Elgar’s successful DRS call

South Africa bowler Lungi Ngidi reckoned that Virat Kohli’s reaction to Dean Elgar’s DRS call suggested that Team India felt the heat during the third Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town. In the 21st over of the Proteas’ run-chase, the on-field umpire gave Elgar out LBW off Ravi Ashwin, but the left-handed batter immediately took the DRS.

Replay showed that the ball would have gone over the stumps despite Elgar being hit below the knee roll. The batter had started walking after taking the DRS and was taken aback after replays were shown on the big screen. Kohli, in the meantime, was agitated by the development.

The Indian skipper went up to the stump mic and suggested that the hosts’ broadcaster SuperSport had doctored the tracking methodology in some manner.

“Focus on your team while they shine the ball. Not just the opposition. Trying to catch people all the time,” Kohli said after going to the stump mic.

Those feelings ended up showing there, says Lungi Ngidi

Nine overs later Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Elgar, who scored 30 off 96 balls with three fours. This time around, India used the DRS to their advantage and got Elgar out. Ngidi, in the meantime, said that going by Kohli’s reaction, the home team looked a lot under pressure.

“Reactions like that show a bit of frustration and sometimes teams capitalize on that. You never want to show so much emotion, but we could see emotions were high. That tells us they are feeling a little bit of pressure,” Ngidi was quoted as saying.

“That was a good partnership [between Elgar and Keegan Petersen for the second wicket] for us and they really wanted to break it. Those feelings ended up showing there. Everyone reacts differently and what we saw there was what those guys were feeling at the time,” he added.

During the press conference after the day’s play, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey went out instead of the players. The coach refrained from making any comments on Kohli’s matter.

“We saw it, you saw it. I’ll leave that for the match referee to have a look at it. There’s nothing I can comment on it now. We’ve seen it all, just want to move on with the game now,” Mhambrey said.