Gavaskar to Kohli: Learn from Tendulkar's 241; 'no need to play ball on 7th stump'
Virat Kohli scored just 3 runs as India were reeling at 51/4 in reply to the home team’s 445 on the rain-hit third day of the third Test
It was another disappointing day for the Indian batters including Virat Kohli in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against Australia.
On Monday (December 16), India were reeling at 51/4 in reply to the home team’s 445 on the rain-hit third day of the third Test in Brisbane.
India’s star batsman Kohli was dismissed for just three runs off 16 balls, again, chasing a wide delivery to be caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey off paceman Josh Hazlewood.
Also read: Bumrah backs struggling Kohli
This was Kohli’s third single-digit score in the ongoing Test series. He was out for 5 in the first innings of the first Test in Perth and bounced back with a century (100 not out) in the second innings. However, in the next game – the day/night Test in Adelaide, he departed for scores of 7 and 11.
Kohli’s mode of dismissals while chasing deliveries wide outside the off-stump has raised concerns among experts and fans. This was not the first time in recent times that he chased a delivery and edged it behind the stumps. He has been caught behind the wicket four times out of the five innings in the current series.
Also read: Day 3 report of Brisbane Test
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, who is doing commentary for the ongoing Test series, questioned Kohli on his latest dismissal.
“If it was on the fourth stump I could understand,” Gavaskar said, talking about Kohli’s dismissal, on Channel 7.
“This was wide, on the seventh, eighth stump, you could say. There’s no need to play that,” the former India captain added.
Further, he said, “He’d be very, very disappointed, he’d be very upset with that. Even before Rishabh Pant faced a ball, the rain started to come down and the covers have come on. If Kohli had shown a bit of patience he could be not out with KL Rahul.”
Speaking on Star Sports, Gavaskar advised Kohli to learn from batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who chose not to play the cove drive during his double century (241 not out) in Sydney in 2004.
"What I think Kohli can do is maybe have a look at what Sachin Tendulkar did way back in 2004. In the first three Test matches, he got out playing for the line outside the off-stump. He got caught at slips, short gully. When he came to Sydney, he decided he was not going to play anything in the cover region. He played only between the bowler's follow-through and to the right of the mid-off fielder, and everything else on the other side. That’s the resolve. He hardly played a cover drive; I think only after getting to 200-220 did he play one. That is the kind of mind control you should be having," he said.