As India gear up for their first T20I clash against Australia later tonight, Virat Kohli’s childhood coach shared an important message for the right-hander. Kohli’s childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma opined the talismanic batsman to tackle his Australian nemesis Adam Zampa with a balanced approach in the upcoming three-match T20I series.
The former India skipper is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of modern-day cricket but has also faced his fair share of struggles against some bowlers. Aussie leg-spinner Zampa has dismissed Virat Kohli seven times in white-ball cricket.
Virat Kohli should not be overconfident, urges Rajkumar Sharma
Rajkumar Sharma feels Zampa is a good spinner but the batting maverick lost his wicket to him due to his overconfidence.
Speaking to India News Sports, Rajkumar said, “Taking nothing away from Zampa, I feel Virat Kohli has always been dismissed to him because of his overconfidence. Whenever Zampa has come to bowl, sometimes Kohli has tried to plunder him for runs and has ended up losing his wicket.”
“So I feel he should respect his good deliveries and punish the loose ones. He needs to find a balanced approach in tackling Zampa,” he added.
Rajkumar Sharma addresses Virat Kohli’s strike-rate issue
Virat Kohli’s strike-rate has recently come under the scanner during the Asia Cup 2022 as he failed to accelerate on a couple of occasions. However, Rajkumar defended Kohli citing when the openers fail to score big the team needs to switch to an alternate other plan and bat deep which Kohli usually does.
“Virat’s strike rate will depend a lot on what kind of start the Indian openers give and what form Rohit Sharma is in. You always need to have a plan B because if you lose early wickets, you cannot continue to go hard. You need to assess the conditions and then bat deep which is exactly what Virat does, making him one of the biggest match-winners in this format,” he concluded.
