File photo of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri© AFP
Virat Kohli has not been having a great time in Test cricket of late. In both innings of the first Test against Bangladesh, Kohli delivered poor scores of 6 and 17. While in the first innings, he chased an outside off stump delivery by Hasan Mahmud, in the second innings, he fell victim to a wrong leg-before-wicket decision. Having chosen to not review it, the Ultraedge discovered the bat making contact with the ball, which would have ruled Virat not out had he opted for a review.
Virat is having a poor run of form across all formats this year. In 15 matches and 17 innings this year, he has scored just 319 runs at a sub-par average of 18.76, with just one half-century to his name and a best score of 76 made during the T20 World Cup final against South Africa.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri gave an interesting take on his dismissals.
“He has [gotten out to spinners] especially in the last 2-3 years. But he has scored a lot of runs too. What you want to see him do more is use his feet. Get to the pitch of the ball, probably employ the sweep. You’ve got to move with the times, don’t be afraid to go over the top when the field is up. You could try and do things to unsettle the spinners rather than allowing him to keep bowling at you. It’s what he did a lot when he scored a lot of runs,” Shastri said after Kohli’s dismissal.
“Also some of the tracks that India have played on. It’s not been easy. Plus I know a few dismissals where like Shubman Gill in the first innings, he’s gotten caught down leg wide. Funny dismissals. He’ll be aware of it. That’s for sure. There is no batter who doesn’t remember. Obviously you find a method of finding a solution. Find out what works for you and stick with that.”
With ANI inputs
Topics mentioned in this article
