Familiarity unfolded during the first day of the first Test between India and Bangladesh when Virat Kohli chased an outside off-stump delivery on just his sixth ball of the innings.
Familiarity unfolded during the first day of the first Test between India and Bangladesh when Virat Kohli chased an outside off-stump delivery on just his sixth ball of the innings. There were so many things wrong with that shot.
— Cricket Cricket (@cricket543210) September 19, 2024
Firstly, Virat went to chase a wide delivery with hard hands away from his body, and his head fell over, with a massive gap between his bat and front pad. There was no alignment between his head position, bat, and front pad.
Secondly, he switched to his old technique, where he uses two movements—one right before the ball is delivered and the other when it’s coming to him.
When he makes that second movement, his reaction time reduces and disrupts balance, which means Kohli wasn’t judging the line from a better position. In contrast, when only a solitary movement occurs, the balance remains intact, allowing the batter to get behind the line of the ball or get in a better shape even while playing away from the body.
Wonder why Kohli brought this back in his game. pic.twitter.com/wPqxAQmacO
— Bishontherockz (@BishOnTheRockx) September 19, 2024
It was an issue with him during the South Africa tour in 2018, leading to his dismissal. However, he corrected it later but has shifted back to this faulty method.
Another thing about that dismissal was how early Kohli took his front foot across the stumps instead of taking straight or forward. It leads to the weight coming excessively on the front foot, which unbalances the batter and tempts them to go with their shot, no matter the line.
Had Kohli planted his front foot inside the line of the off-stump, he could have played close to his body and under the eyes. It would allow him to leave anything outside the off-stump line, and Kohli wouldn’t have chased that ball.
Weirdly, Kohli is making the same mistake again. In South Africa last year, Kohli adjusted it brilliantly with a straighter and inside the off stump, which meant he knew where his off-stump was and left the deliveries outside off brilliantly.
Lastly, Kohli’s front toe is pointed towards the cover region because that front foot is going across, so the bending of the knee takes his head to the off-stump or outside the off-stump while also restricting his hip rotation. Hence, there’s a huge probability of Kohli nicking the ball outside the off-stump line even if he plays below his eyes.
In contrast, Kohli can get his head down over the ball if his toe points towards mid-off. He did it precisely during the 2021-22 South Africa tour.
A lot of things went wrong during that shot. It was an avoidable stroke, especially when the ball was doing so much off the seam.
The credit must go to the bowler as well. Hasan Mahmud was the only accurate pacer with the new cherry and got the big fish early.
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