Virat Kohli needs to do some soul searching, he's certainly not past his prime: Anshuman Gaekwad

Former India cricketer Anshuman Gaikwad identified the technical issues in Virat Kohli’s batting, suggesting a few changes for him to get back his lost mojo. The Indian Test and ODI skipper has witnessed an uncharacteristic slump in his career, with his last century dating back to the Kolkata pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.

Kohli, who recently stepped down as India’s T20I skipper in a bid to manage his workload, was a part of the Mumbai Test against New Zealand, which the team won by a massive 372-run margin, their largest victory in terms of runs.

While Kohli had himself admitted about how the Wankhede Stadium has been a happy hunting ground – he scored 235 against England in 2016, which was the last time a Test was hosted at the venue before the recent encounter – he could not make it a memorable outing with the bat this time around, falling for a duck after being adjudged out lbw controversially in the first innings, followed by 36 in the second.

Gaekwad, who represented India in 40 Tests, stated that a top player like Kohli going out of form is nothing unseen or unheard of, as each player faces such a phase.

“Virat has to do some soul-searching. He has to go back to the basics. This (lean patch) has happened to many cricketers. Sunil Gavaskar in 1974, then to Jimmy (Mohinder Amarnath). They tried everything, defend and attack, but never got the runs. The same thing is happening with Virat. It’s a cycle,” he was quoted by News18.

“It’s just that you go overboard with your confidence etc, and you develop certain habits, as an outcome of which you are nowhere. Virat is very impulsive; he is not like Sunil or Jimmy. He wants to get going. But how to get going, he doesn’t know. That’s where the batting coach comes into the picture. Either Virat is trying to be defensive or aggressive. There is nothing in between. That’s Virat’s problem,” Gaekwad added.

Kohli definitely not past his peak: Anshuman Gaekwad

However, he backed Kohli, stating that he does not feel the batter is past his peak. “He is fit, and his reflexes are good. It’s a phase that happens to every cricketer in his career. In 1972, when I played for Baroda in the Ranji Trophy, I was out for zero five times. And in 1974 I played for India,” he said.

“Azharuddin got three centuries in his first three Tests had a lean patch. But I and Vishy (Gundappa Viswanath) were the selectors, and we said he is a guy who should be continued. Look Virat is a fit guy, these guys are really fit. One can attribute his indifferent form to playing across all formats, mainly the Twenty20. In Twenty20, the pitches are different, the line of bowling is different, the fielding positions are different.”

Analysing what changes he can bring in his technique to break his rut, Gaekwad said Kohli needs to be aware of where his off-stump is and needs to curtail his instinct of going for certain shots.

“All he has to do is look for singles and singles and twos. But he wants to hit boundary shots. The moment he sees something in his range, he goes for it. He doesn’t know where his off-stump is. When you play off the front foot, the shot has to be towards cover, mid-off and mid-on, not towards point. There has been batting coaches, but India has been struggling with its batting in the last couple of series. It’s the bowling that has taken the brunt. What have the top and middle-order done? We did not have a video analyst to consult. Today it’s all there.”