Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar talked about Virat Kohli’s place in the modern era fab four while comparing his technique with contemporaries Kane Williamson, Joe Root, and Steve Smith after the India batter failed to light up the ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final.
India captain Rohit Sharma had won the toss and chosen to bowl first at the Oval in London on June 7. Australia recovered well from 71/4 to put up 469 as Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121) led the way with their 285-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
India needed a big score from Virat Kohli after openers Shubman Gill (14) and Rohit Sharma (15) fell early and then Cheteshwar Pujara lost his stump shouldering the ball for 15 runs. Kohli did look good for his 15 runs, but was out to Mitchell Starc, after one ball from good length bounced awkwardly and Kohli edged it to slips.
After the day’s play, Sanjay Manjrekar discussed Virat Kohli’s technique and his place in the Fab four of Test cricket while comparing him to Kane Williamson, Joe Root, and Steve Smith.
"You shouldn't be surprised when a short delivery bounces more. Virat Kohli has become a front-foot player. He goes onto the front foot every ball. If you look at the pictures carefully and the pitch map also tells us that the Mitchell Starc delivery pitched on the halfway mark, that means it was a short delivery. He tried to move forward to a short delivery. Both of his feet were outside the crease. When you get into this kind of a position and the ball bounces a bit more, then you have no chance," Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
Kohli has always been someone who has pressed forward. His initial movement is always on the front foot. Kohli's technique, on the other hand, has gotten him into difficulties in Test cricket in recent years. Because of his forward press, he has pushed at short deliveries that could have easily been punched from the back foot.
"Run-scoring for Kohli is getting a bit more and more difficult because he is trying to lunge forward irrespective of the ball's length. The Australian players that got runs in the first innings - Steve Smith and Travis Head - are both backfoot players. So Kohli somewhere down the line has to bring that into his game. Rahane has started doing that," Manjrekar added.
Manjrekar was asked whether Kohli has fallen behind the other members - Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson - of the famous fab four in Test cricket.
"I don't know if it's a coincidence or there is the fact in it but players like Joe Root, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson who have scored a lot of runs in Test cricket in the last 2-3 years are all strong backfoot players. They go deep in their crease and then wait for the ball. But Kohli's technique is different. When he was in his prime, remember when he scored those four hundreds in Australia, he used to play the pull shot a lot.
Since then he has had a lot of faith in his technique. He doesn't want to change it. But I think his road has become difficult because of that. Whatever runs he is scoring now is because of his mental toughness and experience,” the former India cricketer said.
