Indian captain Virat Kohli has found himself under the scanner after his dual failures in the ongoing first Test match against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. He scored a measly 2 runs in India’s first innings score of 165.
New Zealand posted 348 thanks to big contributions coming from their tailenders and took a lead of 183 runs. In the second innings, the Indian batting faltered again as Shaw (14), Pujara (11) and Kohli (19) failed to support Agarwal (58), as India finished the third day on 144/4.
The main concern for all experts was the form of Indian captain Kohli, who has not made a century in his last 20 innings across formats in international cricket. He has only one fifty in his last 9 innings in New Zealand and former India batsman VVS Laxman feels that it is happening due to a lack of discipline.
"I think he [Kohli] has to show more discipline and more patience. It should be just like the way he showed after the tentative start. I think, for a stroke player, especially when someone is low on scores, not high on confidence, you want to score a lot more runs. You want to attack, want the opposition to bowl attacking lines and lengths. New Zealand has done really differently,” VVS Laxman said on a post-match show on Star Sports.
Kohli was out fending outside off-stump in the first innings to Jamieson, while in the second do, he was out edging a short ball to the wicketkeeper off Boult.
Laxman further pointed out, "They did not give Virat Kohli anything to score. Whenever the ball was bowled at the stumps, Virat Kohli was scoring. Whenever there was room offered, he was scoring. But whenever it was short-pitched, it was into his body. It was almost testing his patience. The Big 4 also are stroke players. The way they get their runs is by scoring quickly. But what we have seen in this series so far, especially Virat, he was forced to play that ball outside the off-stump.”
"The discipline that we see from Virat Kohli at the start of the innings was missing. Even in the 2nd innings, he was looking to play those lavish drives which we don't really see from Virat even in subcontinent conditions. In these conditions, you have got to respect the ball which is pitched up at the start of the innings. I thought the way Kane Williamson approached his innings in the 1st innings is the way to handle this New Zealand attack,” Laxman concluded his analysis.
(Star Sports inputs)
