Aaron Hardie ecstatic after getting rid of Virat Kohli in the warm-up match at the SCG

Prior to the four-match Test series against Australia, India, captained by Virat Kohli, are playing a four-day practice match against Cricket Australia (CA) XI at the renowned Sydney Cricket Ground. India did well with the bat and notched 358 runs with five batsmen scoring half-centuries, one of them was Kohli himself, who scored 64 runs from 87 deliveries with seven boundaries and a six.

The 30-year-old was nipped out by 19-year-old fast bowler Aaron Hardie, who took a sharp catch on his follow through to get rid of ICC’s number one ranked Test batsman. After picking up the big fish, quite expectantly, Hardie was delighted and expressed his feeling of dismissing the big fish.

“Yeah, it was a pretty amazing feeling. It all happened very quickly. He was smacking me around the park a bit and then next minute, he hit one back to me. It was an awesome feeling, pretty surreal,” Hardie was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

But I’d take both of them though

On being asked about the toughest batsman, he’s bowled to thus far in his short career, Hardie remarked: “I think Virat was definitely (was the hardest to bowl to). He’s obviously a world-class batsman, probably the best batsman in the world at the moment. He was certainly a challenge to bowl to, there’s no room for error.”

Last year, Hardie also had the privilege of bowling to England Test skipper Joe Root in a warm-up match during last year’s Ashes. To add to his delight,  he went on to dismiss Root for nine runs. But he considered Kohli’s wicket as a more prized one. “I would say Virat Kohli, maybe. But I’d take both of them though. In the book it says caught behind. I was appealing for lbw, but that’s all right,” the youngster added.

Hardie has also done exceptionally with the willow against Kohli’s men. He is currently not out on 69 runs from 121 balls, batting at number eight. He smacked eight boundaries and a six in his knock and would be keen to add more runs to his overnight tally on the last day.

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