Sunil Gavaskar, a legendary cricketer, believes Virat Kohli's decision to play the ball early in order to deal with swing backfired, and his suggestion in conditions similar to those in England would always be to hit the ball as much as possible. Late game. Kohli hasn't recorded a century at the international level in more than two and a half years. In the recently concluded fifth Test against England, which India lost by seven wickets, he scored 11 and 20 runs.
Gavaskar said on ‘Sports Today’, “The way to play in England is to play the ball as late as possible. With this you will let the ball do its job and then play only after that. Whatever little I have seen in ‘Highlight’, it seemed that Kohli was trying to reach the ball and was trying to play the ball quickly.’ He also said that Kohli had success in England in 2018 because he was playing the ball too late.
Gavaskar said, “So he does not seem to be playing like in 2018 in which he was seen playing very late near the off-stump.” He feels that Kohli is trying this new strategy probably because his form has declined in recent years and he is not able to collect runs. At such times the player tries to play every ball and is often in danger.
He said, “It could be his issue because he is not able to score runs. When you are not in form, you try to play almost every ball and you want to hit every ball trying to score runs. Maybe he can focus on this thing. However, Gavaskar feels that even
Kohli’s luck is not supporting him.
“But the first mistake he is making is proving to be his last mistake. Maybe even luck is not supporting him at this time. Gavaskar said, “I think of course you plan a little, imagine a little in your mind what the bowler will do the next day. So, you can stay outside the crease, but you are going to bat with a predetermined plan, which means the bowler has to bowl in the same line and length that you are expecting.
“But if he doesn’t bowl that line and length then you are in trouble,” he said. Gavaskar said, “The game of cricket has always been about natural reactions. You are doing extra preparation to understand the strength of the bowler but in the end, it is a natural reaction game.