The batsman who has scored close to 23,000 international runs, who scored 70 international centuries (27 Tests, 43 ODIs) and 115 half-centuries and whose average is 50 plus in all formats, then the country should be proud of such a player. Virat has been a big match-winner for Team India in the last many years but recently questions have been raised on his consistency.
In fact, in the last ten innings, Virat has been able to score only 267 runs at an average of 26.70. In the current series, he does not seem very comfortable in scoring runs. His tour of New Zealand last year was also not up to the mark. The biggest problem is his getting out in the same way. He doesn’t look very comfortable on the outside of the off-stump. Sometimes playing away from the body is proving costly for him.
Similarly, he became the victim of Anderson in the first innings of the Leeds Test. Anderson has dismissed him for the seventh time in Test cricket and the second time in this series. Well, there is no need to worry too much about this because when the England team toured India and the Indian team went to England three years ago, Anderson could not get him out even once. Of course, he dismissed Virat four times in the 2014 tour of England and once in the 2012 Kolkata Test.
On these seven occasions, Virat was caught on most of the occasions either behind the wicket or at the slip. On two occasions in this series too, he was caught behind from Anderson’s deliveries. Anderson has understood very well that he can be put in trouble by bowling at the fourth stump. At this point Virat is unable to decide whether the ball should be left or played because from here many times the ball comes inwards or the ball pitches and goes out.
In Nottingham, Virat first wanted to leave a fuller-length delivery of Anderson. When he saw that the ball was not going out, he went to defend it, the ball took the outer edge of the bat and went into the wicketkeeper’s gloves. Similarly, in the first innings of the Leeds Test, Anderson got the wicket of Virat in the same trap. He was out on scrambled seam of Anderson and this time he placed the ball slightly just behind the good length. Anderson knew that on such a ball, Virat would go for a drive. The same thing happened. According to his habit, Virat made the mistake of playing away from the body, which proved fatal for him.
Regarding this, Virat Kohli’s coach Raj Kumar Sharma said that such a phase comes in the life of every big player. Sunil Gavaskar, Vivian Richards and Sachin Tendulkar have had such phases in their careers as well. Virat is working hard to overcome this and he is determined to do his best. Raj Kumar Sharma also says that a bowler who has taken more than 600 wickets and is in a best form and who has troubled thetop batsmen of the world, it is indeed quite challenging to face such a bowler.Raj Kumar Sharma believes that Team India’s batting coach Vikram Rathore, Ravi Shastri must be working on these problems. He said that he is confident that he will get rid of these troubles soon.
When Virat had to struggle during the 2014 tour of England because then Anderson’s outswinger was becoming the biggest challenge for him, but four years later, on the very next tour of England, Virat introduced perfect footwork to face his outswing. He handled swing well with his open stance but facing inswing in the tour of New Zealand proved to be a problem for him. Especially Jamieson’s balls, which looked like inswingers but were outswingers, have troubled him in the final of the World Test Championship. This problem of Virat’s out-side-the-off-stump balls was also read closely by Anderson and he continues to trouble him with similar deliveries. It should be hoped that just as Virat was able to come out of the failure of 2014, in the same way, he will be able to get out of the current failures soon.
