India’s star batter Virat Kohli has come under scrutiny for his twin failures in the pink-ball Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval. He returned with scores of 7 and 11 as the visitors lose the match by 10 wickets.
Ahead of the third Test in Brisbane, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar has advised Kohli to draw inspiration from Sachin Tendulkar’s iconic knock in Sydney against Australia in the 2003/04 series.
Gavaskar's suggestion came after he noticed an old pattern in Kohli's dismissals in the second Test of the ongoing series.
In the first innings, Virat was undone by a rising delivery from Mitchell Starc outside off stump while he got out chasing a wide delivery by Scott Boland during the second essay.
Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar didn’t mince his words as he said Virat Kohli, like in the early part of his career, has once again become susceptible to deliveries outside the off stump, which reminded him of Tendulkar’s unbeaten knock of 241 at SCG without playing a cover drive.
"What Sachin Tendulkar did in Sydney? He was getting outside the off-stump in his previous three Test matches. He was getting out in the covers and slips. He didn’t play a single cover drive. He only played towards mid-off and mid-on and went on to score 241," Gavaskar stated.
"Just keep control on yourself, that ‘I am not going to play there [off stump line]’. Jaise Sachin ne double century banayi waise Kohli bhi bana sakte hain (So, like Sachin scored his double century, similarly Kohli can do it as well).”
The 75-year-old further issued a warning to Kohli, saying that Aussie pacers had already taken note of his weakness and could exploit the same tactic in the third Test match.
“The approach should be that if you aren’t set at the start, don’t go outside and have lunch. In Adelaide, he played a shot that went over the top after he had lunch. Australia fielders must have seen that, when he came back to play in the second innings, they placed a fielder there. He needs to control that. If he can play in the front, he has a good bottom hand, he can hit towards mid-wicket, mid-on and straight if he can concentrate there," he added.
Virat Kohli was dismissed for just five runs in the first innings of Perth Test, failing to tackle the bounce of Josh Hazlewood's delivery. However, the 36-year-old made it count in the second innings as he played an unbeaten knock of 100 to set-up India’s 295-run victory.
With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy currently poised at 1-1, the Indian fans are hoping that Kohli would make amends in the third Test, starting December 14 at the Gabba.
