‘Sunil Gavaskar’s suggestion is welcome, but…’: Virat Kohli’s coach sends a big message

Sunil Gavaskar advised struggling Virat Kohli to continue Sachin Tendulkar’s epic 241 in Sydney, where he never played a cover drive, as Sunil Gavaskar, who has coached the current megastar since his childhood Rajkumar Sharma was notorious for never being amused by the proposal. “Sunil Gavaskar is a great player and his suggestions are always welcome, but I hope he will also suggest others about batting,” said the former Delhi off-spinner, who was a pre-teen. Sharma, who has been coaching Kohli since then, told PTI on Tuesday.

To be fair, Gavaskar, who became the first player in history to complete 10,000 and 3400 Test runs, did not name Kohli, but he spoke at length about the player during his commentary stint as well.

“He’s been in good form since 2008. It would be unfair to say he’s out of form because of his second innings. He’s already scored 100 runs in this series. 100 in this series. How many players have scored runs? Sharma countered by citing his ward’s heavy run in the bottom of the second innings against Perth after India had secured a lead of more than 300 runs.

To put things into perspective, Kohli’s first innings average for the 2024-25 season, which started with the Bangladesh series, was 73 runs in eight completed innings, an average of 9.125. The order of scores is 6, 47, 0, 1, 4, 5, 7, 3 (Brisbane’s first innings).

Does he feel bad about being criticized for not scoring 50 in eight consecutive Tests? “To be honest, I didn’t know much about the stats, but what kind of player he is,” he said. , I’m sure he’ll bounce back. I think he’s too good a player for anything to be said or criticized because he’s the most consistent player in the league.” The coach seemed to be making a small extravagance.

Does it have more to do with mentality than technique? “It has nothing to do with technique or mentality. He is mature enough and understands the game,” he replied.

Sharma later revealed that he had spoken to Kohli, but did not reveal details of the conversation to the media.

“We were talking to each other and we said things that we wouldn’t say in public. But he’s a mature enough player and he knows where he’s going wrong. It will bounce back, and you can see that in the series itself.”

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