Sunil Gavaskar appeared sceptical whether the intent shown by Virat Kohli on Day 4 was the right approach, as he weighed in on Virat Kohli’s similar modes of dismissals.
Virat Kohli endured another low score as India got off to a poor start in their second innings against England at Lord’s on Sunday. Starting the day 27 runs behind England in the 1st innings, India lost in-form openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma to be placed at 27/02– effectively 0/2 – when Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli came together, hoping to bail the team out of trouble.
Sunil Gavaskar Appeared Skeptical As Virat Kohli Disappoints Again
But 27/2 soon became 55/3 as Sam Curran took out Virat Kohli just when the India captain was beginning to show form, having struck four crisp boundaries. Virat Kohli once again perished nicking a ball outside off, a pattern that is common among his recent dismissals. Weighing in on Virat Kohli’s similar modes of dismissals, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar appeared sceptical whether the intent shown by Virat Kohli on Day 4 was the right approach.
“That method has been successful for him. He has got 8000 Test runs with that back and across the movement. But he is playing at deliveries way outside off stump and a little too early in the innings. This time around, the foot is somewhere else, the bat is somewhere else, which means that he hasn’t really played well.
“It could be about this much-talked-about word intent but in a five-day game, every batsman goes in to score runs. It’s the method that differs,” Sunil Gavaskar said on the Sony Sports Network.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were both disappointing with the bat in the second innings after being dismissed for 21 and 20 respectively. While Rohit Sharma was sent back to the pavilion while playing his favoured pull shot, Virat Kohli chased a wide delivery bowled outside off.
Between 2016 and 2018, Virat Kohli was in red-hot form, peeling off centuries and piling runs across the world. In these three years, Virat Kohli had scored 1215 runs in 2016 and 1059 runs in 2017 averaging above 75 both times. In 2018, he managed 1322 runs averaging 55.08. He scored 612 runs in 2019 averaging 68.
However, if the period between 2020 and now is to be carefully examined, the numbers haven’t been that great for the India captain. He scored only 116 runs in 2020 averaging a mere 19.33, and 291 runs in 2021 so far averaging a modest 26.45.
Sunil Gavaskar: Since It’s A Test, Batsman Need To Get Themselves Set
In the first innings of the Test, Virat Kohli appeared very circumspect, scoring 42 off 103 balls, but in the second, Virat Kohli was a lot more positive in his approach, getting to 20 off 31 balls, but Sunil Gavaskar reckons the India captain could have played himself in a little more, as that is what a Test match is all about.
“When you talk about this ‘trying to take this attack to the opposition’ approach, and if that is what intent is, it can get you into trouble as we saw. I think every batsman should be left alone to find his own method. This is a Test match.
“In ODI and T20I, it’s a completely different situation, but over here, what they need to look into is get themselves in and try to play in the old-fashioned V. Play only when you have fought through,” Gavaskar added.
Virat Kohli has been to England to play Test cricket twice before – in 2014 and 2018, where he had contrasting fortunes with the bat. After the low of 2014 where Virat Kohli scored just 134 runs from 10 innings, he took the opposition by the scruff of the neck four years later, amassing 593 runs in a five-Test series.