Unlike former greats like Tendulkar and Gavaskar, Virat Kohli has an obvious weakness: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels that a major change in Virat Kohli’s way of dealing with the England bowlers during India’s last tour in 2018 and the ongoing one is leaving the balls. Manjrekar reckoned that Kohli has been playing far more shots than he did during his successful tour in 2018 when he tallied 593 runs including two centuries, which was a series when he left alone plenty of deliveries.

He further pointed out that unlike other batting great batters of the eras gone by, Kohli has an obvious weakness and he gets dismissed in similar ways. Notably, Kohli has once again been facing issues with the deliveries outside the off-stump channel in the ongoing series, a technical issue that he suffered from during the dreadful 2014 tour when he got merely 134 runs in 10 innings while being constantly troubled by James Anderson.

During this third Test at Headingley, Kohli, who has scored merely 69 runs in five innings so far, was dismissed once again by his 2014 nemesis Anderson as he tried to drive a fuller ball but only nicked it behind to Jos Buttler to walk back for 7.

I am sure it’s starting to bother him: Sanjay Manjrekar

“Unlike so many greats of his league, he (Kohli) has got a very obvious weakness. All the greats, the Tendulkars, the Gavaskars and the Viv Richards, didn’t have one obvious weakness. Every time that gets exploited, Virat Kohli gets found out,” Manjrekar told Sony Sports after India were bundled out for 78 on Day 1 of the Headingley Test.

“It’s not that he is getting out in different ways like Ajinkya Rahane does. I am sure it’s starting to bother him.

“The reason he got those runs in 2018 was not because he was cover-driving beautifully or pulling it superbly like he was in Australia against Mitchell Johnson. It was all about leaving the ball, which was about doing something he was not accustomed to. It requires a lot of mental effort.

“I am just starting to feel that maybe the mental reserves that he has is he as fresh mentally as he was in 2018 with that big challenge of seeing James Anderson through and leaving balls after balls? He is not leaving as many balls this time,” Manjrekar added.