MICHAEL Vaughan is fearing the worst for England after the hosts let Virat Kohli off the hook twice on Thursday, allowing the Indian skipper to score his maiden Test century on UK soil.

Kohli went into this month’s five-Test series under immense pressure, with question marks over his technique because of his struggles in the 2014 series (134 runs at 13.40).

Those questions would have continued to be asked if Dawid Malan had held onto a simple chance at second slip when the Indian captain was only on 21. He had edged the sort of delivery from James Anderson that haunted him throughout the 2014 tour. That series saw Kohli fall to edges in seven of his 10 innings.

Kohli was dropped again on 51 by Malan – a tougher diving chance at second slip – and went on to score 149. An imperious performance considering India’s next highest run-scorer, Shikhar Dhawan, made 26.

It wasn’t enough to take India to a first-innings lead – the tourists were all out for 274, 13 short of England’s total of 287 – but Vaughan says it could have a major impact on the series.

“It was easy as they come at second slip,” Vaughan said of Malan’s first drop on BBC’s Test Match Special. “Whatever happens in this game they’ve allowed Virat Kohli to go on and get 149. He’s got 15 more in this innings than he got throughout the whole tour last time he was here in 2014.

“It’s a five match series and Virat has got off to a flyer with 149 and great players once they get into rhythm, once they get into form and once they get into confidence, they are very difficult to stop.”

Bob Willis, who took 325 wickets at 25.20 runs apiece for England in Test cricket, voiced a similar opinion on Sky Sport’s Cricket Podcast.
“The scene was set, it was Anderson versus Kohli and it would have been Anderson’s day had Dawid Malan held onto that catch in the slips when Kohli was on 21,” Willis said. “It went down and he put all of 2014 behind him.

“That century will have given Kohli so much confidence, not just for the rest of this match but for the rest of the series.”

Both Vaughan and former England first drop Jonathan Trott were impressed by the way Kohli thrived under the pressure of the spotlight.

“Great players love the stage and he went out there today, the crowd booed him,” Vaughan said.

“He’s great because he looks around goes ‘alright then, you boo me I’ll hang around and make your team spend a bit more time in the field.’”

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Cricket Podcast, Trott pinpointed the arrogance with which Kohli plays as being essential to his game.

“Straight away he comes into the game and he’s the focal point of the Indian side,” Trott said. “He leads with that exuberance.

“You can see that he’s going to play well when he’s got that sort of intent, he’s got that arrogance about him because he knows he’s a little bit if not a lot better than his teammates or anybody else in the world at the moment when he’s in this form.”

England heads into day three at 1-9, with a lead of 22.