Virat Kohli hasn’t been in one of the greatest of touches in the longest format during the ongoing year with the help of 376 runs in 17 innings at an average of 25 and a strike rate of 67, shouldering on one century and one half-century at the best score of unbeaten 100 that he managed in the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Since then, Virat Kohli has again started to go south in the record book. In the first innings of Adelaide Oval during the pink-ball contest, the right-handed batter wasn’t convinced whether to leave the ball outside the off-stump from Mitchell Starc and ended up getting an outside edge into the hands of the slip fielder, Steve Smith.
The same issue continued in the second innings of the encounter, where the former Indian captain, under full effects of the floodlights, leaned forward and got an outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper, Alex Carey, in the bowling of Scott Boland.
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The same problem kept on growing for Virat Kohli in the first innings of the third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane. Coming early in the innings, he left a first few deliveries before going for a booming drive to earn the outside edge into the hands of the keeper.
Virat Kohli is in touch with his childhood coach? Veteran informs
It has become a long-lasting issue for the 36-year-old, who came into the BGT on the back of his 93 runs at home in six innings against New Zealand at an average of 15.50 with one solitary half-century on his name. The balls outside the off-stump are persistent problems for Kohli, whose Test average has gone down 50 down under for the very first time.
The former Indian opening batter, Sunil Gavaskar, has advised the batter to put a bug price on his wicket besides criticizing him for throwing his wicket early in the innings.
But the childhood coach of Virat Kohli has a different thought process and hasn’t taken the words in a light manner. He has remarked how the Delhi-born has been performing for a very long time, with the same technique.
“Sunil Gavaskar has been a great player, and his suggestions are always welcome, but I hope he suggests others also about their batting. He has been performing well since 2008. It would be unfair to say that he is out of form based on two innings. He has already scored a hundred in this series. How many players have got a hundred in the series?” Sharma spoke to the PTI in a recent interaction.
Virat Kohli celebrated just three centuries in the format in the last five years and has felt the pressure on most occasions. His nemesis has been the first innings of a Test match, where he scored 73 runs at an average of nine since the first Chennai Test against Bangladesh.
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“To be honest, I didn’t know much about the stats, but the kind of player he is, he will bounce back. I think he is too good a player to be told anything and criticized because he has been the most consistent player in Indian cricket history.” His coach added.
“Nothing to do with the technique or even the mind, he is mature enough and understands the game. We have been talking to each other and talked about something that I wouldn’t say in public. But he is a mature enough player and knows where he is going wrong. He will bounce back, and you’ll see that in the series itself.” Virat Kohli’s childhood coach concluded.