Former India cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar feels Virat Kohli has tried everything to end his outside off-stump weakness and is now suffering from self-doubt. Notably, Kohli got dismissed for the eighth time out of the ninth innings, edging the ball outside off stump on Day 2 of the fifth Test in Sydney.
The right-handed batter fell prey to Scott Boland for the fourth time in the series as the Australian seamer continued to exploit his weakness. Analysing Kohli’s dismissal after the end of the day’s play, Manjrekar said that after several years he’s gone back to batting inside his crease.
“Lots of greats have gone through a rut, but not in the fashion where they’ve got out to one particular shot and the great has not been able to find a way. There’s another quick point I want to make if you see that dismissal and you’ve got to feel for Virat Kohli. There were occasions when he was trying to leave balls outside the off on this occasion, after many years, Mark and Simon, you see that he’s actually deep inside the batting crease,” Manjrekar on Star Sports.
Further speaking ahead, he mentioned that the India star has tried everything under his control and now seems to be suffering from self-doubt with the same mode of dismissals.
“I mean, he’s gone back and he’s inside the batting crease. Now that is a very rare thing for Virat Kohli to do. You know, Virat Kohli loves getting outside the batting crease going forward. He’s tried everything within his, you know, capabilities and on this occasion he tried being inside the batting crease, same result. What do you do? And Mark makes a good point about him now having clear self-doubt with what has happened and with the sameness of the end for every innings,” he added.
Kohli finished the series with 190 runs from five matches (nine innings) at an average of 23.75 with one hundred to his name. The former India skipper started the series well with a century in the first Test in Perth but failed to keep up with consistency in the remaining games.
