Has Virat Kohli reached a point from where there is no turning back? Has his technique worsened so much that the chance of him succeeding in Test cricket isn’t viable anymore? From how former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar describes things, it might just be true.
Virat Kohli, 7 for 7 outside off
Earlier today in Sydney, Kohli got out, nicking a ball outside off behind the stumps. Seven times he’s been dismissed in the ongoing India vs Australia Test series, and all have been edges that have been induced outside off and taken behind the stumps. Manjrekar narrated how Kohli always had a problem outside off. However, earlier it used to be both his strength and weakness.
“His biggest strength when he arrived on the international scene was the cover drive, and now that has turned out to be the biggest weakness for him. Let’s go back to the dismissals we just saw, and I’ll tell you something that I have never seen before. It is a problem outside off. We saw that surface against Jimmy Anderson in 2014 in England. But if the balls were outside off that were full, you know the balls that he was driving at are the ones that he was getting out to,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports.
Virat Kohli’s BGT 2024-25 stats
| Innings | Runs | Average | 50s | 100s | Highest Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 184 | 26.28 | 0 | 1 | 100* |
Just bowl outside, get Virat Kohli out
Manjrekar feels now the strength is not present anymore. Now, any problem can rock up and bowl outside the off stump to Kohli, and voila, it works. He explained that previously one had to bowl in the channel and that too at full length to get Kohli out. That meant that he’d score a few boundaries while taking the risk of getting dismissed. Now, the bowlers can pull their lengths back a bit and still get him caught. He’s at a place from where there is no escape.
“But now that problem has become so severe that all bowlers now have to do is just bowl in that line on the fifth and sixth; it doesn’t matter the length. You see the problem for Virat Kohli; it has actually compounded where it doesn’t matter what the length is. He is still getting out to balls in that channel whether it’s short or whether it’s full. Earlier it was only the full deliveries that troubled him and the short of length balls he used to manage. But now just a bowler, it could be anyone who has to just turn up and bowl outside off, and you got to feel for him because he has just run out of scoring options,” Manjrekar added.
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