Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has advised his ward to “avoid playing strokes square of the wicket initially” in order to counter the swing, saying it would help him get back to form with a bang.
“Virat has six Test centuries and is too good a player to be kept quiet for a long time. I have advised him to cut down on shots square of the wicket initially. He should concentrate on playing within the ‘V’ as it will help him counter the swing and seam movement easily,” coach Sharma said on Thursday.
India’s batting mainstay Kohli has so far scored only 34 runs in four innings with a top score of 25.
Asked any specific shot that he has told Kohli to cut down on, Sharma replied, “I told him to avoid playing the flick shot initially when the ball is swinging. He doesn’t need to change anything in his batting. Just play straight and the big knock is just round the corner.”
For 49-year-old Sharma, who has played first-class cricket for Haryana, Kohli’s lack of runs hasn’t bothered him as he feels it’s more about good deliveries rather than poor shots that has brought about his downfall. “I would’ve been worried had he been out playing a rank bad shot. But that hasn’t been the case. He has got out to some extremely good deliveries bowled by top class Test bowlers. Take the Jimmy Anderson delivery in the first innings of the lord’s Test. The ball swung in and then shaped away after pitching. Nine out of 10 batsmen would be out facing such delivery,” the coach explained.
About Virat’s second innings dismissal where he was out shouldering arms to an incoming delivery from liam Plunkett, Sharma said, “If you have an idea about the lord’s ground, Plunkett was operating up the slope. When someone is coming uphill, you don’t expect the ball to cut back sharply as it did. Just like a batsman wants to score, ditto for bowlers. You will bowl good deliveries at this level but Virat is good enough to have an answer for these deliveries,” he added.