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Clamour for Kohli's retirement will grow if he fails to solve off-stump puzzle

Pace bowlers now lick their lips when Kohli gears up to face the new ball in Test cricket

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India's Virat Kohli is caught behind off Australia's pace bowler Josh Hazlewood in Brisbane on Monday. — AFP
by

Rituraj Borkakoty

Published: Mon 16 Dec 2024, 6:35 PM

Last updated: Mon 16 Dec 2024, 11:54 PM

Question marks have been raised again on Virat Kohli’s future in Test cricket following his latest horror show with the bat in India’s first innings of the third Test against Australia in Brisbane.

The 36-year-old was caught behind off Josh Hazlewood while going for a cover drive.

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Pace bowlers now lick their lips when Kohli gears up to face the new ball in Test cricket.

Over the past four years, swing and seam bowlers have ruthlessly dismantled a player who once hounded them with a majestic flick of the wrists and picture-perfect cover drives.

But that now feels like a distant past as that cover drive has become Kohli’s Achilles’ heel.

Still a formidable player in white-ball formats where he enjoys the batsmen-friendly rules, the former India captain has been unable to curb his instincts to play that cover drive at the start of an innings in Test cricket, the most challenging format of the game.

And that urge to go for that cover drive often brings his downfall as he ends up offering outside edges to either the wicketkeeper or the slip fielders.

While he did score a fine hundred in the second innings of the first Test in Perth, that knock came after openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul had done the hard work, seeing off the new ball and punishing a tiring Australian attack.

But his technique has been exposed by the new-ball bowlers after the top-order collapses in the next three innings — two in Adelaide and one in Brisbane.

And each time, he has been trapped in the outside the off-stump line.

Cheteshwar Pujara, one of India’s biggest heroes of the historic Test series wins Down Under in 2018 and 2021, was dropped from the squad after a string of poor scores.

Unlike Pujara, Kohli’s reputation has kept him in the team, but now his former teammate has pointed a finger at him for his weakness against the new ball.

“We were discussing that he has been forced to play the new ball. He has gotten out whenever he has played the new ball. When he played the old ball, he scored a hundred in Perth. So that's also a very big point," Pujara told Sky Sports on Monday.

"His technique isn't made for the new ball. His batting should come after 10, 15 or 20 overs. If he plays the new ball, the bowlers are fresh and their confidence is also high. When they get two wickets, the entire team is charged up.”

Kohli, who has scored just three Test hundreds since 2020, was dismissed for three on Monday just on the last ball before a rain break in Brisbane, playing a loose shot outside the off-stump.

The tendency to fall for the same trap frustrated batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Monday.

“If it was on the fourth stump I could understand. This was wide, on the seventh, eighth stump, you could say. There’s no need to play that,” Gavaskar said while commentating.

“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 came on. If Kohli had shown a bit of patience he could be not out with KL Rahul!”

For a player who scored 27 Test hundreds from 2011 to 2019, Kohli’s struggles in the post-Covid era have been baffling.

If he fails to make the technical and, more importantly, the mental adjustments, clamours for his retirement will grow louder by the time this gruelling Test series ends Down Under.

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Rituraj Borkakoty

Published: Mon 16 Dec 2024, 6:35 PM

Last updated: Mon 16 Dec 2024, 11:54 PM

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