Former India head coach Sanjay Bangar has expressed concerned over star batsman Virat Kohli’s batsmanship against spin bowling ahead of the upcoming high-voltage, important Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
While Kohli has rocked back to his best in white-ball cricket, his still needs to put up his best in Test cricket. In his last 4 Test matches – 2 vs Sri Lanka and 2 vs Bangladesh, Virat Kohli has managed only 126 runs in total with no half-century. Kohli has in fact, notched up only 1 fifty in his last 6 Tests and hasn’t scored a Test ton since November 2019.
Heading into this crucial Test series – which is vital not only in regards to the WTC final at stake, but also to continue India’s home dominance – Virat Kohli’s major issue is against spin bowling.
Since the start of 2021, in 9 Tests in Asia, Virat Kohli averages only 23 with only 2 fifties.
Against spinners in this period, from 2021, Kohli averages only 25!
Sanjay Bangar, who has worked extensively with Kohli in the past, and has observed the former skipper from close quarters, pointed out two major factors that are lacking in Kohli’s batting: Kohli doesn’t come down the pitch often, unlike somebody like Pujara; and Kohli doesn’t play the sweep shot, a flaw which many believe will open up a great scoring, and attacking option for Kohli if he employs the sweep shot more.
“Virat Kohli does not do two things due to which he faces a lot of difficulties against Nathan Lyon. One, he does not believe much in stepping out, he plays more from the crease and then he does not play the sweep as well,” said Sanjay Bangar.
With Nathan Lyon, one of the finest-ever off-spinners in Australia’s ranks, Bangar wonders how will Kohli tackle the threat of Lyon.
“So where will he score runs against Nathan Lyon? So he will have to change his approach slightly. We have already seen in this season that he has used his feet slightly more, although he might have done it in the shorter format. He will have to do that,” Bangar added.
