'Kohli didn't look like getting out, thankfully Rahane got him run out' - Tim Paine recalls 2020 Adelaide Test

Former Australia captain Tim Paine opened up about a moment when Virat Kohli got run out in the first Test match at Adelaide in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Indian fans celebrated this famous series for many good reasons but seeing Kohli run out on 74 runs is a painful memory.

In the first Test, India lost both their openers early but the then Indian captain steadied the ship with a good partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Kohli and his deputy Rahane looked calm and started building up the innings towards a big total, but Rahane got Kohli run out due to a mix up. It proved to be a turning point as India collapsed from 188/4 to 244 all-out. Paine also shared that he sensed the trouble when Kohli and Rahane batted well and looked to build up the big partnership.

They were not far off taking that first Test completely away from us: Paine

“Yeah, I must admit though when he was batting… he was on 20-30. Then the lights came on, and I was like ‘Wow, he did not look like getting out, did he? And I was like we are in some serious trouble here. I do remember for about 15 minutes, I was like ‘Oh Christ! Yeah, when he got through that first period of the night, I thought ‘Oh trouble’. Rahane looked just as good too there for a little while,” Paine said in a ‘Bando Mein Tha Dum’ episode on the Voot platform.

“They were batting beautifully and then; thankfully, Rahane ran him out. It was brilliant. Particularly, when you feel so out of the game, we couldn’t create a chance and they were batting so well, to then be literally just gifted one, and a really simple one, of their best player who was making it look pretty easy, in a difficult condition for a new batter to come in against the pink ball under lights, it’s a hard place to start your innings, that was a huge shift in the game. They were not far off taking that first Test completely away from us,” Paine concluded.

India lost the first match by eight wickets after their infamous collapse for just 36 runs in the second innings. Kohli then missed the next three matches as he returned to India to attend the birth of his child. However, Rahane guided India to a famous 2-1 series win as India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.