NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli’s ongoing struggles with the bat became the huge talking point in cricketing circles with former players and experts weighing in on what it would take for the star India batter to overcome his weaknesses against deliveries outside the off-stump.
Former India batter Aakash Chopra also talked about Kohli’s perennial problem of getting dismissed on outside the off-stump deliveries. He mentioned that while Kohli had previously overcome this problem, it has resurfaced to trouble him once again.
Kohli endured another failure when Josh Hazlewood had him caught behind for 3 on the third day of the third Test in Brisbane.
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“There is no doubt that there is a problem. It is well documented. The problem outside the off-stump comes repeatedly and starts troubling you. When he had problems on the England tour of 2014, he made changes in his batting, started taking a massive stride, and changed his stance as well,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“He has changed his game a lot. However, towards the end of his career, the same problem is coming again. He commits a slight error of judgment against deliveries outside the off-stump and ends up playing them. In fact, it’s not that only. He was surprised by a bouncer and then closed his bat early and almost got caught and bowled off a top edge,” he added.
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Chopra also suggested that Kohli may need to avoid playing deliveries outside the off-stump, similar to how Sachin Tendulkar adapted his approach during the 2004 Sydney Test.
“You obviously know that he is not at the top of his game. So what is the road ahead? I think there are two things. One, I remember the Sydney Test match after Sachin Tendulkar was repeatedly getting out to deliveries outside the off-stump. Can Virat Kohli do that? He will have to do that because if he keeps getting out like this, the vulnerability is exposed even more,” he said.
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