'Foot is somewhere else, bat is somewhere else': Gavaskar on Kohli's struggle, says India captain 'hasn't played well'
Weighing in on Virat Kohli's similar modes of dismissals, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar appeared sceptical whether the intent shown by Kohli on Day 4 was the right approach.
Virat Kohli endured another low score as India got off to a poor start in their second innings against England at Lord’s on Sunday. Starting the day 27 runs behind England, India lost in-form openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma to be placed at 27/02– effectively 0/2 – when Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli came together, hoping to bail the team out of trouble.
But 27/2 soon became 55/3 as Sam Curran took out Kohli just when the India captain was beginning to show form, having struck four crisp boundaries. Kohli once again perished nicking a ball outside off, a pattern that is common among his recent dismissals. Weighing in on Kohli's similar modes of dismissals, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar appeared sceptical whether the intent shown by Kohli on Day 4 was the right approach.
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"That method has been successful for him. He has got 8000 Test runs with that back and across movement. But he is playing at deliveries way outside off stump and a little too early in the innings. This time around, the foot is somewhere else, the bat is somewhere else, which means that he hasn’t really played well. It could be about this much-talked-about word intent but in a five-day game, every batsman goes in to score runs. It’s the method that differs," Gavaskar said on the Sony Sports Network.
In the first innings of the Test, Kohli appeared very circumspect, scoring 42 off 103 balls, but in the second, Kohli was a lot more positive in his approach, getting to 20 off 31 balls, but Gavaskar reckons the India captain could have played himself in a little more, as that is what a Test match is all about.
"When you talk about this 'trying to take this attack to the opposition' approach, and if that is what intent is, it can get you into trouble like we saw. I think every batsman should be left alone to find his own method. This is a Test match. In ODI and T20I, it’s a completely different situation, but over here, what they need to look into is get themselves in and try to play in the old-fashioned V. Play only when you have fought through," Gavaskar added.
