Virat Kohli’s torrid time after the high of the century in the first Test of the BGT 2024 as he once again got out playing the ball outside the off-stump in the fifth and final Test between India and Australia being played in Sydney.
Except for the 100 not out he scored in the series opener in Perth, Kohli has been removed seven times in the series, with all of them caught behind.
The disastrous Kohli finish outside off occurred once more in Sydney on Friday, when Scott Boland got the great Indian hitter to poke at one of his deliveries outside off, falling for a hard-fought 68-ball 17.
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar claimed Kohli's continuous struggles outside off had become a major concern for the 36-year-old. He also went on to say that Kohli's troubles now run so deep that anyone can get him out outside the line of the off stump.
"You've got to feel for the guy because his biggest strength, you know when he arrived on the international scene was the cover drive, and now that has turned out to be the biggest weakness for him. Let's go back to the dismissals we just saw and I'll tell you something that I have never seen before. It is a problem outside off.
We saw that surface against Jimmy Anderson in 2014 in England. But if the balls were outside off that were full, you know the balls that he was driving at are the ones that he was getting out to. But now that problem has become so severe that all bowlers now have to do is to just bowl in that line on the fifth and sixth, doesn't matter the length,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports.
“You see the problem for Virat Kohli, it has actually compounded where it doesn't matter what the length is. He is still getting out to balls in that channel whether it's short or whether it's full. Earlier it was only the full deliveries that troubled him and the short-of-length balls he used to manage. But now just a bowler, it could be anyone who has to just turn up and bowl outside off and you got to feel for him because he has just run out of scoring options,” Manjrekar added.
Virat has struggled for runs in the ongoing series as he has just 184 runs in 8 outings at an average of 26.28. India made 185 runs in the first innings in Sydney thanks to 40 from Rishabh Pant and 26 from Ravindra Jadeja.
