'Foot is somewhere else, bat is somewhere else' - Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli's technical failures against England

India skipper Virat Kohli yet again was dismissed for a low score on day four of the second Test match against England. Although his classic cover drive was for all to see, Kohli could not prolong his stay and convert it to something substantial. With England removing India’s top-order batters cheaply, the onus fell on Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who blunted the opposition attack for a 100-run stand.

But the talking point of the innings was the Indian skipper failing to score big runs. Cricketer-turned-expert Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the intent of Kohli while scoring the runs in the series. In the first Test, James Anderson sent him for a golden duck to the ball that straightened a bit after pitching in the off-stump channel. In the first innings of the Lord’s Test, the right-hand batter could not resist one Ollie Robinson delivery wide outside the off stump.

And the latest one too was similar when Sam Curran dismissed him for 20 runs. Gavaskar feels Kohli’s method is wrong. “That method has been successful for him. He has got 8000 Test runs with that back and across the movement. But he is playing at deliveries way outside off stump and a little too early in the innings. This time around, the foot is somewhere else, the bat is somewhere else, which means that he hasn’t really played well. It could be about this much-talked-about word intent but in a five-day game, every batsman goes in to score runs. It’s the method that differs,” Gavaskar said on the Sony Sports Network.

Sunil Gavaskar feels Virat Kohli should have played himself a little more before attacking

Although Kohli scored 42 runs in the first innings, he did not look at his fluent best. But in the second innings, he looked more settled and swifter at the crease. Sunil Gavaskar feels Kohli should have been more cautious before playing his shots.

“When you talk about this ‘trying to take this attack to the opposition’ approach, and if that is what intent is, it can get you into trouble as we saw. I think every batsman should be left alone to find his own method. This is a Test match. In ODI and T20I, it’s a completely different situation, but over here, what they need to look into is get themselves in and try to play in the old-fashioned V. Play only when you have fought through,” Gavaskar added.