IND v ENG 2021: "There's such sturdy layer of confidence," says Sanjay Manjrekar on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli couldn't believe he was out bowled and took his time to walk off.

Virat Kohli getting out to Moeen Ali | BCCI

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was done in by an excellent ball by off-spinner from Moeen Ali bowling into the rough from over the wicket. While he missed the drive, Kohli couldn't believe that the ball turned in so much from outside off and hit the top of the middle stump.

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar talks about the Indian captain that the great sense of belief that he doesn't get out comes from a sturdy layer of confidence. Such great batsmen have a strong mindset which we will never understand according to the former India batsman.

Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNCricInfo, "One of the reasons that he is so great as a batsman is this incredible self-belief. We will never understand a great mind because we’ve never been there so Virat Kohli when he goes to bat has this great sense of confidence that he cannot get out. Even in the second innings, when everyone else was struggling and the pitch was going up in smokes, he got a good 70."

"So, when such things happen, it’s almost like ‘Am I out? How is that possible? Yeah, I missed the ball but am I out?’ There’s such a sturdy layer of confidence. That is something he has to break. Virat Kohli, I thought… a great delivery but not to the pitch of the ball as much as he’d have liked," he added.

IND v ENG 2021: ‘You don’t drive a ball off an off-spinner from the rough’, Gambhir on Kohli’s dismissal for duck

Moeen got the ball to drift into the right-hander from over the wicket and created the angle to beat Kohli. The delivery reminded Manjrekar of legendary Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis's reverse swing and how he used the angle to beat batsmen.

"When you look at it again, it’s a great delivery. The angle outside the off stump, then the drift. And that angle is just like how Waqar Younis used to bowl his reverse swing. He used to throw it outside the off stump, inducing the batsmen to play the cover drive.

It was a fantastic delivery from Moeen Ali. I love Moeen Ali the off-spinner and more suited for this kind of a pitch that Dom Bess," Manjrekar concluded.

 
 

By Sameer Deodhar - 14 Feb, 2021

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