Virat Kohli might have gotten the monkey off his back by scoring his 30th Test century in Perth against Australia. However, his age-old nemesis of fishing outside the off stump is not going away and this resulted in his dismissal once again in the second innings of the Adelaide Test. The right-handed Kohli’s 21-ball stint at the crease came to an end when he chased a wide delivery bowled by Scott Boland.
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has now dissected a major technical flaw in Virat Kohli’s batting, saying the experienced campaigner is just not being able to find a permanent solution.
The 36-year-old Kohli walked back to the pavilion after scoring just 11 runs. Even in the first innings, Kohli had no answers to a rising delivery and departed after registering just seven runs.
“I don’t have strong opinions on Virat Kohli. I just say the truths, the facts that I see in front of me. It’s something that I have said before as well,” Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
“The technique he has developed to counter that line outside the off stump, the swinging ball, has not really made his life easier,” he added.
‘Kohli can’t find a solution’
Manjrekar also stated that he thought that Kohli would be able to get into better positions after scoring a century in Perth, however, this hasn’t been the case. This forced the former India batter to conclude that Kohli is just not able to tackle the deliveries bowled outside the off stump.
“When he got 100 in that last game, ‘I thought okay let’s find out. If the dearth of runs is contributing to the mistakes that he is making. With that monkey off his back, you expected Virat Kohli to be a lot more relaxed and look in better shape,” said Manjrekar.
“But clearly that was a problem earlier of no runs and a technical issue. But after getting a 100, he was troubled by that same line, showed that he has got a serious technical issue to which he just can’t find a solution,” he added.
Kohli was even found wanting in the first innings of the Perth Test when he was unable to tackle the bounce of Josh Hazlewood’s delivery and as a result, he walked back after scoring just five runs.
The experienced campaigner made it count in the second innings as he played an unbeaten knock of 100, however, the same problems arose in the Adelaide Test.
