Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has shared his two cents on Virat Kohli's batting issues in English conditions, stating that the former India captain has not been playing the deliveries late, unlike what he did in 2018.
Gavaskar's comments came after Kohli failed to make a mark in the recently-concluded Edgbaston Test. He returned with the scores of 11 and 20 in two innings as India suffered a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of England.
Kohli had struggled in 2021 as well and he finished the five-match series with 249 runs, including two half-centuries.
"The trick to play in England is to play as late as possible. Then you are allowing the ball to its bit and then you are playing the ball. From what little I saw in the highlights, it seemed Kohli was looking to reach for the ball, trying to play the ball early," Gavaskar told Sports Today.
"Therefore, he was not looking like he was in 2018 when he was looking to play it very late around the off-stump.
"This could possibly be his issue because he hasn't been among the runs. When you are not in form, you look to play almost every ball, hit each one of them, in a bid to score runs. Maybe that's something that can he look at," he added.
The owner of 70 international tons, Virat Kohli hasn’t hit a century in professional cricket since November 2019.
According to Gavaskar, luck is also not with Kohli as his first mistake is turning out to be his last.
"But the first mistake he is making is turning out to be his last mistake. Maybe he is not having the run of the luck at the moment," he stated.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time, Gavaskar also weighed in on why pre-meditation doesn't help always in Test cricket, referring to Kohli’s method of standing outside the crease in English conditions.
"I think you obviously plan a little bit, visualise what the bowler is going to do the next day. Therefore, you can stay outside the crease but you can go with a pre-meditated plan of batting, which means the bowler has to bowl the same line you are expecting. If he doesn't bowl in those lines, you are in trouble.
"Cricket is always about instinctive action. And while you are giving yourself just that extra bit of preparation by trying to understand the bowler's strengths, at the end of the day, it's an instinctive game," he said.
(With Sports Today inputs)
