- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
WHILE advice has flown in thick and fast for India batter Virat Kohli who has struggled to score enough runs for a long period now, former India captain Ajay Jadeja has slammed the critics saying things look much easier on television and opined that the struggling batter’s problem doesn’t lies in his technique as he has scored plenty of runs with the same technique in the past.
Kohli started off well in his latest innings which was against England in the second one-day international (ODI) at Lord’s but his stay at the crease was short as he fell after scoring only 16 runs off 25 balls and India went on to lose the game by 100 runs. His dismissals have now pushed many to advise him to make certain changes to his batting technique, including playing on the backfoot.
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Jadeja, 51, refused to agree with such viewpoints. Speaking during a conversation on SONY SIX channel during the second ODI, he said Kohli had scored all of his centuries in the past with the same technique, which means the concern is not with his batting style but the mindset.
“Virat Kohli is a great player. Most of his runs came (from that technique). Even in his best form, he’s not the one who has ever cut the ball even when was scoring hundreds. If you look at him now and say, ‘has he changed anything?’, I don’t think he has. It’s just that the scores aren’t coming. I would probably worry that he’s getting 20s and 30s, if he had gotten out in the first 10-12 balls, it’s fine because any batsman can get out then,” Jadeja, who played 15 Tests and 196 ODIs for India between 1992 and 2000, said.
“I know people believe that he should play on the backfoot. Obviously, sitting here on the television, everything looks easy. You get 2 yards extra, and you can see a different line. But he has always been like that. If he had changed anything, you could say, “maybe the backfoot play is not happening.” Show me any of his century where he plays the cut shot, and show me a shot when he has gone back and played to mid-on or mid-wicket.
“For me, it’s the same Virat Kohli physically. I think it’s the mental aspect,” he added.
Kohli’s final chance to make some runs in the England tour will be on Sunday (17) when India will lock horns with England in the series-deciding ODI in Manchester. It will be his final appearance in international cricket for some time since the batter has been rested for the upcoming white-ball series against the West Indies.
