Tim Southee is Virat Kohli's weakness, says New Zealand legend Richard Hadlee

Indian captain Virat Kohli had a lean patch during India’s tour of New Zealand. Before he could rejuvenate his lost form, the tour has already been done and dusted. Barring a single fifty in the tour, his performance has been far from pleasing.

Virat Kohli must realise ironing out the flaws alone is not enough and be prudent with a shot selection which makes a difference in his game. The run-machine who used to go about his perennial purple-patch across formats struggled against the Kiwi pacers.

After a string of failures in the first and second Test, the second-ranked Test batsman in the world has a mediocre average of 9.5, which is his worst-ever record in the red-ball cricket and thus eclipsing his pathetic show in England tour where he averaged just over 13. Kohli could only score 218 runs in the ongoing New Zealand tour, 36 runs short of his total during England tour in 2014.

Despite the horror show, Virat Kohli bounced back in the five-match Test series in England where he accumulated as many as 593 runs at a scintillating average of 59.30 and ended the series as the leading run-scorer on the back of two centuries including a 103 in the third Test match as India got the better of England at Trent Bridge.

Tim Southee was at his best against Virat Kohli in the second Test

Meanwhile, former New Zealand great Richard Hadlee, the highest wicket-taker for his team has revealed Virat Kohli’s weakness and it is none other than Tim Southee. The Kiwi pacer was at his impressive best against Virat Kohli during the first innings of the second Test match at Hagley Oval in Christchurch where he trapped Virat Kohli for an LBW.

From the word go, Tim Southee ruffled Kohli’s feathers with swing bowling and eventually ended up getting the big fish out. Richard Hadlee also explained why it is not a good idea to put his front foot forward because it easily puts him in big trouble if the ball does the talking.

“Southee is Kohli’s weakness, he’s got him out many times with swing. Against Southee, he is planting his front foot forward, not fully so, and if the ball does something, he’s in trouble. If the ball moves away, he gets caught behind, if it nips back he is leg-before,” he was quoted as saying by Sportstar in an exclusive interview.