Virat Kohli’s bat has not done the talking as yet in Australia, and the clamour regarding his ODI future has picked up after the former India skipper bagged two successive ducks in the format for the first time in his career.
Chinks in contrasting styles in Kohli’s gameplay were exposed in Perth and Adelaide by the Australia seamers. Kohli went fishing for a delivery outside the off-stump in the series opener before being trapped lbw by an incoming delivery in the second. With Kohli struggling to get off the mark, former India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh has urged the team management to allow him to open in the final game in Sydney, as he did during the 2024 T20 World Cup along with Rohit Sharma. Ramesh instead wants captain Shubman Gill to take up the No. 3 spot and provide Kohli a stabler platform to start on.
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“I urge the Indian think tank to think differently. Like T20s, open with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and have Shubman Gill bat at No. 3. Let Kohli start at 0/0 so that the situation-based pressure can be erased. Sometimes even legendary cricketers need a helping hand,” Ramesh said on his own YouTube channel.
“It looks like Kohli is under tremendous pressure when he is batting. It’s okay to fail but it’s sad to see him batting without joy. Batters face two kinds of pressure. One is career-based pressure and the other is the pressure due to the match situation. I feel for Virat Kohli because they’ve started putting pressure on his career. It’s clear he is being affected by that, especially when he is playing only one format,” Ramesh explained.
“He is also lacking in match practice because of it. But apart from the career pressure, he is also under pressure match-situation wise. He is walking in at 10 or 15 for one every time, which brings extra pressure,” Ramesh added.
Kohli and Sharma are featuring in their 391st international match together on Saturday, the joint-most for India alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
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