Former Indian cricketer and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has come up with a piece of perfect advice for the Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli, who has been going through a difficult time with the bat. Though, Virat hasn’t lost his form but it has been 2 years since he last smashed a century in any format of the game. Moreover, he hasn’t been able to convert his innings into big numbers, especially in the longest format of the game.
Kohli has been struggling with his off-side shots and the opposition bowlers have exploited his weakness and have been able to dismiss the Indian skipper.
Talking about the same in an interview, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar said that the Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli should speak to batting great Sachin Tendulkar on how to curb his off-side shots. Gavaskar said that Kohli should ask Sachin about how he curbed his off-side shots in the year 2003-04 against Australia. He said:
“It would be fantastic if he calls Sachin Tendulkar up to wish him a Happy New Year and during that talk just check with him how he curbed his off-side shots in the year 2003/04 against Australia. He was getting out caught in the covers and caught behind and then in that fourth Test in Sydney he decided he was not going to play in the covers. He was only going to play mid-off or straight and on the on-side. What did he end up with? 241 not out in the first innings and 60 not out in the second. Just maybe wish him a Happy New Year and pick his brains about how he did it, might help him as well,”
Virat Kohli is not happy after watching his dismissal. pic.twitter.com/wVmJOqfF7l
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 29, 2021
Kohli got out in a similar fashion in both the innings of the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. Though he looked in a good rhythm on both the innings but unfortunately he tried to attack the harmless deliveries that he could have easily left.
Sunil Gavaskar also said that Virat Kohli has been pretty unlucky in the way that he is getting dismissed as soon as he makes that mistake. He said:
“If you have a look at his batting, there has been nothing wrong. It’s just that he has been making his first mistake and then getting out, luck has not been with him. Yes you can argue that he should have left some of those deliveries but that’s it, every batsman makes mistakes. Most of them have the benefit of getting a life. In his case, he just hasn’t had that luck. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that 2022 is the year in which luck starts going his way. The runs and the centuries will follow,”
He added:
“Even here in both the innings, he got everything in the middle of the bat but the first time he made a mistake, he was out.”
