Virat Kohli‘s struggles against balls outside the off-stump in the ongoing Test series against Australia has the great Allan Border wondering if the Indian superstar has “just lost that edge”. Kohli has fallen to balls outside the off-stump four out of five times in the series thus far, prompting comparisons with a similar slump in England back in 2014. On Monday, he was caught behind chasing a wide ball that he could have left alone.
“Today’s dismissal, that’s normally a delivery he would have left alone if he was in his best possible form,” Border was quoted as saying by Fox Cricket.
“I’m not sure what’s going on with Virat mentally (and) whether he’s just lost that edge.”
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is named after him and the Indian legend. Former England captain Michael Vaughan said Kohli has paid the price for not leaving enough balls. “He’s a player who’s going out there (and) almost trying to get on top too soon,” Vaughan said.
“When he plays at his best, particularly in Australia and England when the ball does a little bit more, he just leaves the ball. Most of his dismissals in this series have been balls that he could have left. I don’t think he’s got a jaffa,” he said.
Our batters needs to leave more balls: Pujara
India’s wall on the previous two tours of Australia, Cheteshwar Pujara, also analysed the visitors’ struggles in the batting department.
“We saw the way KL (Rahul) batted, because if you apply yourself, if you defend well, if you leave the balls well and even which Aussie batters did, if you look at the way (Nathan) McSweeney, Usman (Khawaja) and even (Marnus) Labuschagne did…” Pujara told ESPNcricinfo.
“I mean they didn’t score too many runs but they batted more than 50 balls which allowed Smith to come in after 15-20 overs and then there was a partnership again so Travis Head had to come in after 30 overs. So our batters didn’t do that and that should be the game plan.”
In response to Australia’s 445, India reached 51 for four at stumps on a rain-marred day two at the Gabba.
“If you are batting in Australia you need to have a game plan where you are looking to bat first 30 overs without thinking about the scoreboard,” said Pujara.
“If you get a loose ball you still try and punish it. You don’t have to be over defensive either but you are not picking the right ball.
“The mistakes our batters did is not picking the right length because if you are playing at Brisbane you need to know that from five metre length it looks like the ball is up but because of that extra bounce you can’t drive those balls.
“You only put the pressure on the bowler when you are picking the right ball when you are making the right decision as a top-order batter. You can’t play in a similar fashion, you need to respect the good balls and that’s where the mindset or the approach has to change,” he added.
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