Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s lean run of form with the bat has been a cause of concern for the side, especially in the middle over. While the long wait for the elusive 71st century continues, Kohli has been guilty of throwing away his wicket far too easily in England. He has clearly struggled against the moving ball during the Test series and the English bowlers have exploited that chink in his armour to perfection so far.
In all five innings, Virat Kohli has been caught behind. He has lost his wicket twice to Ollie Robinson and James Anderson and Sam Curran has dismissed him once. In the second innings of the Headingley Test, Kohli looked to be building good momentum and getting into his stride. He even notched up a half-century for the first time in eight innings.
Disappointment followed immediately as he edged an Ollie Robinson delivery and got caught behind by wicket-keeper Jos Buttler. His dismissal also triggered a batting collapse for Team India who went on to lose seven more wickets inside the hour and lost the third Test by an innings and 76 runs.
In his column for The Daily Mail, former England captain Nasser Hussain discussed the flaw in Virat Kohli’s technique. Nasser mentioned that there’s a clear lack of decisiveness when it comes to the moving ball from Kohli’s end and that’ll cause him even more difficulties in the rest of the series.
“Kohli has played at balls he could be leaving; he seems to have that slight technical issue I highlighted in these pages with the positioning of his back foot and he is not picking up the line of Anderson and Robinson. Kohli is not sure whether to play or leave and whether to set himself for the inswinger or not. He doesn’t know what to do. It’s high-class bowling and it’s not going to get any easier for him,” Hussain wrote.
The former England captain also added that the Indian skipper was going through a good period during the second innings in Headingley. He judged the flight of the older ball better but things became difficult once the new ball was introduced.
“He did go through a spell on the third day, admittedly against an older ball, where he was leaving it well. But it’s harder to leave the new ball because it swings later, and he was out again on Saturday in a familiar manner,” he mentioned.
