Deep Dasgupta reveals advice to Virat Kohli, urges batter to forget cover drive for first 20 balls

Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Deep Dasgupta has urged Virat Kohli to shun out his favorite shot cover drive for the first 20 balls of his innings in the ongoing five-match Test series against Australia. Kohli was once again dismissed after scoring only 3 runs while meddling with the seventh stump line against Josh Hazlewood on Monday at the Gabba, Brisbane.

The veteran has been troubled with the outside off-stump line and it has brought to his downfall in the last couple of years. Barring scoring a hundred in the second innings of the Perth Test, Kohli hasn’t done anything significant in the ongoing series.

“For the first 20 balls, forget about your favorite shot. Forget the cover drive that your fans love. Just put it aside for those 20 balls,” Deep Dasgupta said on his appearance on Star Sports.

“As a player of your stature, it’s important to sometimes play within your boundaries. Everyone knows what you’re capable of—you’ve already proven your greatness over the last 10-15 years. There’s nothing left to prove. But occasionally, you need to focus on staying within your limits. Once you find your rhythm, you can gradually expand those limits,” he added.

Kohli has had a great record against Australia while playing Downunder but it has been a disappointing tour for him so far. 

Meanwhile, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant were also dismissed cheaply on the third day’s play. Furthermore, Rohit Sharma’s poor form continued as he was dismissed by Pat Cummins for only 10 runs. 

KL Rahul scored an impressive knock of 84 runs but he was taken brilliantly by Steve Smith at first slip. India are currently 184-6 and still need 62 runs to avoid the follow-on.