India’s highly-anticipated four-match Test series against Australia is all set to get underway on February 9 in Nagpur.
Ahead of the iconic Border-Gavaskar Trophy, former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has advised Virat Kohli to change his approach against Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Kohli’s spin game has become a topic of discussion lately as he no longer dominates the tweakers like he used to in his peak years.
Bangar pointed out that Virat neither prefers to step out nor he utilizes sweep shots against the spinners in Tests.
“Virat Kohli does not do two things due to which he faces a lot of difficulties against Nathan Lyon. One, he does not believe much in stepping out, he plays more from the crease and then he does not play the sweep as well," Bangar said on Star Sports.
The former India skipper recently changed his approach in white-ball cricket, which yielded him positive results as well. Bangar wants to Kohli to replicate the same in Tests to counter spinners.
“So where will he score runs against Nathan Lyon? So he will have to change his approach slightly. We have already seen in this season that he has used his feet slightly more, although he might have done it in the shorter format. He will have to do that," he added.
Bangar also advised Kohli to combat Lyon by shifting his off-stump guard a bit.
“He will have to move a little towards an off-stump guard, so that he is able to cover the line better and he should not allow Nathan Lyon to bowl too many deliveries. He will have to take a slightly aggressive approach, then only you can threaten him slightly," he said.
Commenting on Lyon’s bowling, Bangar said the veteran off-spinner may not have many variations but he knows how to exploit the rough patch.
“Nathan Lyon excels mainly on Day 2 and Day 3, maybe there are very few exceptions to that, but once Mitchell Starc bowls a lot of spells, then there is a rough created outside the right-handed batters’ off-stump. He is somebody who doesn’t have too many variations but he looks to exploit that spot," Bangar said.
