World Test Championship Final: Former India batsman finds big flaw in Virat Kohli’s batting

Team India star batsman Virat Kohli was dismissed for 14 as India put up a dismal batting display in their first innings against formidable Australia in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) Final at the Oval.

In the second ball of the 19th over, Mitchell Starc bent his back and got one to kick on from the surface. Kohli was taken aback by the extra bounce and could not control the ball. Subsequently, Steve Smith took a sharp catch by timing his jump to perfection in the slip cordon.

As per former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrejar, had Kohli rocked back instead of lunging forward then he would have been a better chance of dealing with that rising delivery.

“You should not be surprised when a short delivery bounces more. Virat has become a front foot player. He goes onto the front foot every ball. If you look at the pictures carefully and the pitch map also tells us that the Starc’s delivery pitched on the halfway mark, that means it was a short delivery. Kohli tried to move forward to a short delivery. Both of his feet were outside the crease. When you get into this kind of a position and the ball bounces a bit more, then you have no chance,” said Manjrekar.

“Run-scoring for Kohli is getting a bit more and more difficult because he is trying to lunge forward irrespective of the ball’s length. The Australian players that got runs in the first innings are back-foot players. So Kohli has to bring that into his game which Rahane has started doing,” the former batsman added.