Sunil Gavaskar urges Kohli to avoid cover drive, leave balls outside off

Sunil Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has urged Virat Kohli to draw inspiration from Sachin Tendulkar's 241' in Sydney in 2004 to overcome his recent struggles with deliveries outside the off-stump.

"I think practice is different, but what happens in the middle is different. The mindset is completely different. What happens in practice is, you know, if you play a bad shot, you can get away with it. But in the match, if you are out, you are out," Gavaskar told broadcasters.

Josh Hazlewood tempted Kohli to play a wide delivery that resulted in a thick edge to Alex Carey behind the stumps. It was a dismissal reminiscent of Kohli's recent pattern - chasing balls outside off-stump, often caught in the slip cordon. "What I think Kohli can do is maybe have a look at what Tendulkar did way back in 2004.

Also Read: Virat Kohli's familiar off-stump flaw triggers backlash, Gavaskar-Bangar react

In the first three Tests, he got out playing for the line outside the off-stump. He got caught at slips, short gully. When he came to Sydney, he decided he was not going to play anything in the cover region. He played only between the bowler's follow-through and to the right of the mid-off fielder, and everything else on the other side. That's the resolve. He hardly played a cover drive; I think only after getting to 200-220 did he play one. That is the kind of mind control you should be having," Gavaskar said.

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