At present everyone wants to see Virat Kohli playing like his old form. The only advice I would suggest him is to play freely. Only by playing freely, the opposition bowlers can come under pressure. Sometimes too much caution causes damage. The way he got out in both the innings in the Bangalore Test was very similar as the ball remained low. Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer played freely and they managed to play good innings.
If Virat also plays freely, then he will return to the old form. Regarding Virat, I am relieved that he has been out playing well in most of the innings. He shouldn’t worry too much. One should play freely and boldly. This is a phase in his career where he is not able to play long innings. The worry is that this phase has gone a little longer this time.
I am very impressed with Pant and Shreyas in this series. Pant is looking in excellent form with his batting and wicket-keeping. He was with me in Delhi’s Under 19 team. The good thing is that he is enjoying his batting. He doesn’t care what the pitch is like. Since the days of U-19, I have been watching him go ahead with his innings fearlessly. First Virat and Shastri reposed great faith in him and now Rohit and Dravid are showing the work. The match winning innings he played in Brisbane will never be forgotten.
Pant is showing all the signs of becoming captain in the future. He is a strong contender for this post. The big reason for this is that his place is confirmed in all three formats and he is also performing well in every format. If attention is paid to his captaincy abilities from now on, then he can emerge as a good captain of the future.
The pair of Langer and Hayden made the job of their bowlers easy by giving aggressive starts. In the same way, Sehwag also contributed a lot for Team India. Now Pant is doing the same thing. His playing stance also helps the bowlers to get twenty wickets because when there are runs on the board, then the bowler also gets a boost.
The Writer is a Virat Kohli’s coach, Dronacharya Awardee and an cricket expert.