Virat Kohli has been dismissed seven times outside the off stump in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. No matter where the ball is pitched, he will manage to edge the ball towards the slip cordon. He has been resisting for a while since the previous Test in Melbourne, but the temptation to play shots has proved too much for the former India captain. In the first innings of the fifth Test in Sydney, a short-of-length delivery outside the off stump by Scott Boland was enough to end his knock.
He scored 17 runs before heading back to the pavilion. The 36-year-old was again dismissed by Boland in the second essay. Sunil Gavaskar, who has been backing Kohli for a long time, finally gave up on the batter, saying that it would be difficult for him to solve his weakness because of his age.
“I don’t think he would be able to find a solution for his weakness because of his growing age. He likes to come forward instead of going on the back foot to play the shots. The batters who stay back have more time to play the rising delivery with soft hands, but in Kohli’s case, the moment the ball reaches him, he is already late because of the front foot movement. He has been unable to solve this issue for a long time,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Mark Nicholas agreed with Gavaskar saying Virat is different from all the other greats of the game. “He is different from all the other greats of the game as they stayed on the backfoot but Virat wants his bat to meet the ball at the earliest. He had the same weakness earlier in his career as well but was able to tackle it but it is tough for him at the moment,” he said.
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