Virat KohliGreat Allan Border wonders if the Indian superstar has ‘just lost his edge’ as he struggles with balls outside the off-stump in the ongoing Test series against Australia are. Kohli has fallen to balls outside the off-stump four out of five times in the series so far, drawing comparisons to a similar slump in England in 2014. On Monday, Kohli was caught behind chasing a wide ball that could have been left alone. .
“Today’s dismissal is one that normally he would have left alone if he was in the best possible condition,” Border was quoted as saying on Fox Cricket.
“We don’t know what’s going on with Virat mentally and whether he’s just lost that edge.”
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is named after him and the Indian legend. Former England captain michael vaughn Kohli said he paid the price for not leaving enough balls. “He’s an up-and-coming player who’s trying to get to the top quickly,” Vaughn said.
“When he’s at his best, especially in Australia and England when the ball moves a little bit more, he just leaves the ball. Most of his sending offs in this series were balls that he could have left. “I don’t think we have Jaffa,” he said.
Our batsmen need to leave the ball more: Pujara
During my last two trips to Australia, I visited the Indian wall, Cheteshwar Pujaraalso analyzed the visitors’ struggles in the batting department.
“We have seen KL (Rahul) batting because if you apply yourself, if you defend well, if you leave the ball well and even what the Australian batsmen did, (Nathan) McSweeney, Usman. You see how (Khawaja) does it.” And even (Marnus) Labuschagne did that…” Pujara told ESPNcricinfo.
“So they didn’t get that many runs, but they hit over 50 balls, which allowed Smith to come in after 15-20 overs and then we had a partnership again, so travis head I had to come in after 30 overs. So our hitters didn’t do that and that should be the game plan.”
On the rain-hit second day of the Gabba, India reached 51 runs for four at stumps against Australia’s 445 runs.
“If you’re going to bat in Australia, you have to game plan so you can bat in the first 30 overs without thinking about the scoreboard,” Pujara said.
“If you get a loose ball, you still try to punish it. You don’t have to be overly defensive, but you don’t pick the right balls.
“The mistake our batsmen made was not choosing the right length. If you’re playing in Brisbane, the ball looks like it’s coming up from five meters long, but that extra bounce… Because you need to know that you can’t drive the ball because of this.
“The only time you put pressure on the bowler is when you’re making the right decisions as a top batsman, when you’re picking the right balls. You can’t play the same way. You have to respect the good balls. That’s the problem. We need to change our mindset and approach,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
Leave a comment