Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara praise Virat Kohli's art of tackling spin

Australia defeated England by two wickets on Day 5 of the first Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham and took a 1-0 lead in the 2023 Ashes. Aussie opener Usman Khawaja emerged as the Player of the Match for his knock of 141 and 65 in the first and second innings, respectively. 

Meanwhile, former India captain Virat Kohli has been a major talking point among experts Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara during the first Ashes Test. After play on Day 4, the two former cricket legends discussed the batter being stumped for the first time in his Test career. Notably, it was Kohli who has only been stumped once in his Test career so far. The 34-year-old was stumped during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy when Alex Carey dismissed him off Todd Murphy’s delivery.

Pietersen stated that Kohli is a fantastic player of spin, which makes sense given that they play spin off the back foot. Kohli, according to the 42-year-old, is rarely seen running down, charging, and going all guns blazing, and he indeed does not sweep or reverse sweep. 

"He [Virat Kohli] is a wonderful player of spin, and you sort of understand it because they play spin off the back foot and have such beautiful wrists. You hardly ever see Virat running down, charging, and going all guns blazing, and he certainly doesn't sweep, reverse sweep. I mean, you can watch him bat. Mentally, you can see him batting there, so you can sort of understand that," Pietersen told Sky Sports.

Kohli is also a kind of IPL mode: Sangakkara

Sangakkara emphasised the role of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in shaping Kohli's performance. According to the legendary wicketkeeper-batter, many players like to step down from the crease and don't enable bowlers to bowl on a length. The 45-year-old added that thus the old art of having to use your feet against spin is gone, or they don't do it any longer. 

"He [Kohli] is also a kind of IPL mode, isn't it? A lot of these players are very happy step-hitting from the crease. So, they don't allow bowlers to bowl on a length, so the old art of having to use your feet against spin is gone, or they don't do it anymore. You drop down and work a single. No, just stay in the crease and hit it out of the park. That's true," said Sangakkara.