India vs England 2021: I Don't Think Standing Outside The Crease Is A Worry For Virat Kohli, Opines Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar asked Indian skipper Virat Kohli to keep his shot selection simple on his recent struggles with the bat in the ongoing Test series against England.

Kohli got his first half-century in the series in Leeds but soon departed to his same style of dismissal, playing the ball away from the body line and ended up poking the ball to lose his wicket. His all dismissals in the three games have been either caught by the wicket-keeper or in the slip region.

Virat Kohli needs to keep his shot selection simple: Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar advised the Indian captain to play the ball near to his body and there is no harm in missing the shot while allowing him to play from outside the crease.

“See how far from the body the bat is, that’s what’s getting him into trouble. He (Virat Kohli) is reaching out. So it’s hard hands stuff that is getting into trouble. I don’t think standing outside the crease is a worry. If you play closer to your body, you play and miss it. There is no harm in playing and missing it,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports Network.

“I think it’s the shot selection. You have got to keep it simple. He has got 8000 runs, probably the last 6,500 runs he has got standing outside the crease. So I don’t think he needs to make too many changes. I think it’s just the shot selection,” he added.

There is an ‘intent’ question against Cheteshwar Pujara: Sunil Gavaskar

Cheteshwar Pujara, who was highly criticised for not scoring enough runs, switched gears on the third day of the Headingley Test and almost resurrected India’s innings with 91 runs, including 16 fours.

But the next day he did not add a single run to his overnight tally and thus missed on his 19th Test hundred. Gavaskar said Pujara, just like Kohli, needs to be aware of his short selection and bring more sharpness in his intent while batting.

“At the moment, we’re talking about intent. There is an ‘intent’ question against Pujara. Here it seems the intent is to get runs. It means there are deliveries you’re playing when you should be leaving those. So it’s basically again a question of shot selection,” Gavaskar said.

“You don’t have to play at those deliveries. If you leave those deliveries, it’s not going to matter. You still had a day to go and you were 140 runs behind the England team. If you have a look, these are deliveries on the 4th stump, there are no complaints. But there are deliveries at the 5th, 6th stump. These are deliveries he should not be playing,” Gavaskar concluded.

The five-match Test series is levelled at 1-1 with the fourth Test scheduled to be played on September 2 at Kennington Oval in London.

Also Read: I Am Predicting Virat Kohli Will Score A Hundred Somewhere Along The Line – Brad Hogg