"Watch Out.."- Sunil Gavaskar warns Virat Kohli

Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar has raised concerns over the batting technique of Virat Kohli after he was dismissed by the legspinner Rishad Hossain during India's opening match of the Champions Trophy 2025 against Bangladesh.

Gavaskar feels that it is a matter of concern since Virat Kohli is getting out to the same kind of bowling again and again. Earlier, Kohli was dismissed by England's Adil Rashid on both occasions in the ODI series against England before the Champions Trophy.

Gavaskar also spoke about the highly anticipated match between India and Pakistan on February 23. He feels that India is the favorite going into this game but Pakistan has the players who can turn the game on its head.

Also read: "Imam-ul-Haq leaked dressing room talks"- Ahmed Shehzad launches a ballistic attack on PCB

Sunil Gavaskar raises concerns over Virat Kohli's technique

While speaking to India Today, Sunil Gavaskar analyzed Virat Kohli's dismissal and claimed that the veteran batter is making the same mistakes as he did during the Test series in Australia. He advised Kohli to be careful from playing such kind of shots.

"It is to a great extent due to the fact that the bat face opens up. Same thing happens when he's playing against the quicks in Australia. The bat face opening up, looking to play through the covers, opening the face of the bat, that gets him into trouble. So, that is something that he's got to watch out for, even when he got out," Gavaskar said.

He further elaborated that Virat Kohli had reached out to the legspinner Rishad Hossain and got beaten on the outside edge. Gavaskar feels that Kohli needs to tighten up his technique to score big runs.

"A couple of times before he got out, he reached for Rishad, the ball turned, the bat face opened, and luckily the bat face opened and so there was no nick. So, that is something that he'll have to tighten up on now. But yes, I guess if you're getting out to the same kind of bowling, then there is a bit of concern there," he added.

Virat Kohli's record vs Pakistan

Virat Kohli got out to the outside off-stump line during the Test series in Australia repeatedly. In the ODIs, he was expected to get back to his best but the legspinners have been getting him out.

With Kohli's weakness against leg spin being exploited regularly, Pakistan will hope to deploy Abrar Ahmed when Kohli walks out to bat. Kohli has a phenomenal record against Pakistan in ICC tournaments with 645 runs at an average of 80.62.

Sunil Gavaskar picks his favorites for India-Pakistan match

Further speaking on the India-Pakistan match, Sunil Gavaskar believes that anything can happen but admitted that India are the better side than their opponents in terms of skill. However, he warned India of being complacent as Pakistan has always had match-winning players in their team.

"Look, in cricket, anything can happen. You need just one player to be the game-changer, whether it's with the bat or the ball. And Pakistan have always had mercurial players, you know, somebody, you know, who will come in and play a blinder or somebody who will, you know, bowl an amazing spell. They've always had that," noted Gavaskar.

"So it's very difficult to say totally that India are the outright favorite. But you look at the all-round strength of the Indian team, the batting depth that the Indian team has, and the variety at the top of the batting as well. Somebody like Rohit Sharma, who will go bang-bang from the first ball," the former India opener added.

While Pakistan lost to New Zealand in their opening match, India started their campaign with a win over Bangladesh. Pakistan needs to win the match against India at any cost to stay in contention for a semi-final spot.

Both teams have a rich history of playing some of the most memorable matches against each other. However, India have the winning momentum on their side and have a more confident side than Pakistan.