The struggle of India’s premier batter, Virat Kohli, has been clear to all the fans during the last two Tests of the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Adelaide Oval and the Gabba in Brisbane. Devang Gandhi, the former batter of the national side, has asked the coaching staff, under the head coach, Gautam Gambhir, to have an honest conversation with the veteran.
Virat Kohli didn’t have a great start in the first innings of the opening Test at the Optus Stadium before he celebrated his 30th century in the red-ball format in the follow-up. But since then, the graph has again started to go south. He came into the series on the back of his 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50 at home against New Zealand.
Gandhi coached Delhi’s Ranji Trophy and the Bengal Under-19 side, and he felt that Gambhir and the side’s batting coach, Abhishek Nayar, must spend some time with the 36-year-old to find a solution to the long-standing issue with the classical batter.
“It would be very easy to target Nayar as a low-hanging fruit or, for that matter, Gautam. But they have just come into the system. To discuss or nudge a player, first, you need to be around for some time, and once there is some mutual trust between the two, you can offer him solutions. But at this level, it is more about the experienced player’s mental make-up.” Devang Gandhi expressed to PTI as quoted by the Hindustan Times.
Virat Kohli has smashed 376 runs in the five-day format in the ongoing year at an average of 25 with the help of one century and one half-century at the best score of unbeaten 100. That’s his lowest average in a year since his debut in 2011 when he gathered 202 runs at an average of 22.44 in nine innings.
Devang Gandhi suggests Virat Kohli to ‘control his mind’ to earn back success
Gandhi addressed that all the training videos of the batter available to the public have shown that Virat Kohli has been doing the right thing, but once it comes to the middle, the problem and pressure keep on growing. He also explained the details of the issue.
“If you watch his training videos available for the public, I find him doing all the right things. During training, he is playing close to his body. But the moment it is the match situation, the hands are moving towards those channel deliveries like conditioned reflex or muscle memory.” The 53-year-old highlighted this during the interaction.
When his bat is away from the body, the bat’s face will open up towards the cover. Now, this is a white ball problem of hitting through the line. In India, the ball will hit the bottom of the bat, but in Australia, it will towards the upper part.” Gandhi noted.
In the first innings of the pink-ball Test, Virat Kohli wasn’t convinced whether to leave or play the ball, while in the next two innings, he leaned forward to get an outside edge to the fifth and sixth stump line delivery.
Gandhi also believes that constant dismissals, in the same manner, have been putting Kohli under the scanner. He also stated that neither Gambhir nor Nayar could change the deep-rooted technique of the Delhi-born after all these years at this stage.
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“What solution can Gambhir or Nayar possibly give, apart from telling him to not play those deliveries? After 30 Test hundreds, Virat Kohli doesn’t need to be told that but, at 36, does he have that patience to accept that now if he scores a hundred, it will be off 200 balls and not 140 like earlier times?” The Gujarat-born suggested.
“Can he bide those extra 60 balls? It’s about controlling the mind. You can be a sounding board for players like Tendulkar and Kohli but, at this stage, you can’t coach them. Coaching happens at the junior level.” Devang Gandhi concluded.
Virat Kohli will look to find the old touch back as the focus now shifts to the fourth Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.