The former opening captain of the Indian side, Virat Kohli, found himself on the sidelines before the start of the fourth Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 with his former head coach, Ravi Shastri, as he looked back at the proceedings of the first three games.
Virat Kohli came into the series with just 93 runs in six innings at home against New Zealand, thanks to just one half-century coming off his blade in the first game of the three Tests at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In the first innings of the Perth Test at the Optus Stadium, he was undone by a bounce of Josh Hazlewood.
But as India grabbed a big first-innings lead thanks to the 201-run opening partnership between KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the 36-year-old contributed to build on it and held the momentum with an unbeaten 100-run knock in the second innings, his 30th hundred in the longest format.
Also Read: Michael Clarke Not Surprised At Recent Media Kerfuffle Before 4th Boxing Day Test
Virat Kohli again struggled in the next three innings in Adelaide and Brisbane with the scores of seven, 11, and three. In all of the four innings in this series, the veteran has got out while going for a booming drive outside the off-stump, a temptation that has created so many issues for the batter in the last two or three years.
“I have not been disciplined enough to stick and grind out”- Virat Kohli
In the interview, he reckoned that he hadn’t been disciplined enough to grind out in the middle, while the livelier pitches than in the past have made it hard for the batter.
“The last 2-3 innings haven’t gone the way I wanted them to. As I said, haven’t been disciplined enough to stick in there and grind out. That is the challenge of Test cricket. These pitches are much more livelier than the last times we played here.” The Delhi-born addressed this during the discussion with Ravi Shastri.
“There is a different approach required, but that is something I have taken a lot of pride in, as I want to counter different conditions and step up when the team needs me to. The idea is to get stuck in there, get your eye set in, play enough balls, but respect the conditions.” Virat Kohli shed light.
The veteran has always found a special place in him while playing the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, as he looked back during the 2014-15 series when he smashed 169 runs in the first innings and enjoyed another gritty knock during the 2018-19 tour.
“A special place. Right from my first tour, I understood the occasion of the Boxing Day Test. Good memories (here). On the last tour that I played here, we won and took the lead in the series, so that was memorable. In 2014/15, I got a ton here. Pretty special memories across formats.” The right-handed batter noted.
Also Read: Ravi Shastri Criticizes India’s Bowling Plans After Jasprit Bumrah’s 5-wicket Haul In Brisbane
Virat Kohli felt that if they had given the score line of 1-1 coming into the fourth Test at the MCG before the start of the series, they would have grabbed it with more hands, but now their entire focus shifted to winning the trophy and gets near to the qualification of the final for the WTC 2024-25 at Lord’s.
“Expectations are always going to be there. What is important is to understand your plans. My idea is to follow my game plan and stay disciplined. Understanding the situation of the game has brought me success. I understand what the team needs from me. If I walk in early, it’s a different situation than capitalizing and stretching the advantage.” Virat Kohli concluded.