Virat Kohli's struggle with the bat in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy has become a major talking point in cricketing circles, with former players and experts weighing in on what it would take for the Indian stalwart to overcome his weaknesses against deliveries outside the off-stump.
Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has also shared his views on Kohli's perennial problem of getting dismissed on outside the off-stump deliveries.
Karthik feels Kohli is so focused on leaving balls outside the off-stump that his mind is playing a trick and blurring is judgement.
The star batter was dismissed for only three runs while chasing a wide delivery from Josh Hazlewood in the first innings of the Gabba Test.
"So, he is saying, 'I don't want to play anything outside the off stump. I want to leave it'. But he is so tuned to doing it and he is thinking about it so much through the day and in the night that, eventually, the moment it is thrown out there, I think his body reacts in such a way that his hands go hard at the ball. And that's what inducing the edge," Karthik said while speaking on Cricbuzz.
"If you are trying to tell me that Virat doesn't know he shouldn't be playing outside the off stump, I don't think it is right. He is aware, he wants to leave it. But, as much as he is telling himself, when the game is on and he is in the middle and he is all alone, I think the mind is playing a trick, where the moment he sees it on release, his perception goes towards the ball and that is hampering him," he added.
Apart from his second innings hundred (100) at Perth, Kohli has registered paltry scores of 5, 7, 11 and 3 in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy so far. The pattern of his dismissals is the biggest cause of concern.
During the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, Virat was undone by a rising delivery from Mitchell Starc outside off stump in the first innings while he got out chasing a wide delivery by Scott Boland in the second essay. He had failed to tackle the bounce of Hazlewood's delivery in the first innings of Perth Test as well.
The string of low scores has seen Kohli’s Test average further dipping to 47.49. He currently has 9166 runs to his name from 121 Tests, including 30 hundreds.
