Upset With Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag Gives "Sachin-Mantra" to Indian Captain

India won the five-match ODI series, 4-1 and jumped up to the number one spot in ICC’s ODI Rankings, as the Men in Blue went past, the Proteas to become the best team in the limited overs format.

Team India have been doing well under the leadership of Virat Kohli, who has overtaken the baton from the former India captain, MS Dhoni earlier this year. The 28-year-old had a lot of expectations on his shoulders, as he is the best batsman in the team.

In the recently concluded series against Australia, Virat failed to reach the triple figure mark in five innings which is very rare, as he has set such high standards for himself that people expect him to score big, every time he goes in to bat.

The Delhi-born batsman came ever so close to score his 31st hundred but fell short by just eight runs. Former India batsman, Virender Sehwag was upset with Virat’s approach in that innings and criticized him for risking his wicket on the expense of just one run.

“If you observe his batting techniques in the recently concluded series, Kohli played most of the balls towards third-man region, which he did not play so often previously. There must be a reason for the shot selection and only he will be able to tell about it. But, I think Kohli should have converted his innings of 92 in the second ODI at Eden Gardens into a century as he got dismissed while playing the ball towards third man,” Sehwag told India TV.

Sehwag is not too concerned about the low scores Virat has registered recently and he said that Indian captain will start scoring big again and it is just a matter of time.

“Every batsman goes through a rough patch and it is completely normal. In the last series against Sri Lanka, he scored quite a lot of runs and this is where the law of averages comes into play. And hopefully, in the coming series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, Kohli will score runs and convert them to centuries as well,” He added.

Sehwag concluded the interview by giving Virat an advice which the God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar himself gave him.

“Tendulkar emphasized time and again that you should not give away your wicket for a single. Your wicket is so precious and can’t just waste it in search of that single, that one run holds no value.” Concluded Sehwag.