India captain Virat Kohli hasn't been at his best in the ongoing England tour. Kohli has batted in four innings, including the first innings of the third Test, and he hasn't yet scored a half-century.
After a duck in Nottingham, Kohli scored 42 & 20 at Lord's, followed by 7 (17) on Wednesday (August 25) at Headingley. He had a similar poor outing in the 2014 tour, but the Indian skipper came back strongly in 2018 and scored 593 runs in 10 innings, the highest run-scorer of the series.
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said he doubts whether Kohli is as mentally fresh as he was in 2018 to tackle the threat from England fast bowlers in such tough batting conditions.
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"Unlike so many greats of his league, he (Kohli) has got a very obvious weakness. All the greats, the Tendulkars, the Gavaskars, and the Viv Richards, didn't have one obvious weakness. Every time that gets exploited, Virat Kohli gets found out," Manjrekar said on Sony Sports.
"It's not that he is getting out in different ways like Ajinkya Rahane does. I am sure it's starting to bother him.
"The reason he got those runs in 2018 was not because he was cover-driving beautifully or pulling it superbly like he was in Australia against Mitchell Johnson. It was all about leaving the ball, which was about doing something he was not accustomed to. It requires a lot of mental effort.
"I am just starting to feel that maybe the mental reserves that he has. Is he as fresh mentally as he was in 2018 with that big challenge of seeing James Anderson through and leaving balls after balls? He is not leaving as many balls this time," he added.
Former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar, who has a hundred at Lord's, talked about the outstanding bowling effort by England pacer James Anderson to get Kohli out again. "I am going to stand here for the bowler. The way James Anderson has bowled to him has been brilliant. Even during the 2018 tour when he had success against Anderson, everything was going away from him. In this series, you have seen him bowl something coming back into him or a lot straighter with wobbly seam, pitches, and then straightens.
"You have got to give credit to him. He has worked out away. He has worked out because he knows Kohli is likely to leave anything that is going away from. He has bowled differently to him and found success against Kohli," Agarkar said.
Only after the first day's play, India are looking in trouble at Leeds. They first got bowled out on 78 and then let England score 120/0 at Stumps.
(With inputs from Sony Sports live telecast)
