India captain Virat Kohli was a flop with the bat in Centurion as he got dismissed caught behind the stumps while chasing the delivery outside off-stump in both the innings of the first Test against South Africa.
Kohli's lack of batting form has been a major discussion in the cricket fraternity and many have come forward with different suggestions to the India stalwart. He wasn't able to score a single century in 19 Test innings last year, and 72 runs knock against England at home was his highest score.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar spoke on the India captain's scoring shot, cover-drive, which has also cost him his wicket lately. He pointed out Kohli's batting technique which is causing him big trouble for a year.
“Clearly, a guy who is going through an inevitable bad patch. You start losing confidence and then all got confused. I'm sure there is lot of advice coming in his direction on leaving the balls outside the off-stump. But then, he might be thinking if he starts leaving those balls, where do I get those runs? Because cover drive is one of his main shots,” said Manjrekar on ESPNCricinfo.
“Something that I noticed for a year and a half, is the technique that Virat Kohli has started to trust, which is about lunging forward and getting onto that front foot no matter what. And that is hindering a lot of his batting. If you look at the strike rate in the last year or so, against New Zealand in WTC to the first innings in South Africa, 30-40. It is all to do because he is only playing on the front foot.”
Manjrekar suggested Kohli to get on the back foot a little and not play on the front foot too much. He added that the 33-year-old should use the crease more often to unsettle the bowlers and capitalize on the loose deliveries.
“I wouldn't advice him leaving balls outside off-stump. Maybe just the one thing he can do is start getting on the backfoot a little and not be a batter who is on the front foot no matter what. It makes the bowler's job a lot easier. If he starts using the crease, he will find that he will get a lot of loose balls. Otherwise, tall fast bowlers on these pitches just keep hitting the deck and those turn out to be great bowls for Virat Kohli because he uses that front foot,” he said.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
