"All that he needs to do is chill a bit and play that big hand" - Sunil Gavaskar's advice to Virat Kohli ahead of 2024 T20 World Cup final
Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar hopes out-of-form batter Virat Kohli will relax and maintain balance while executing his shots during the 2024 T20 World Cup final. Team India take on South Africa in the summit clash at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on June 29.
As for Kohli, he has endured a surprisingly disappointing tournament thus far with the bat, scoring only 75 runs at an average of under 11 and a run-a-ball strike rate in seven games.
In a conversation with India Today ahead of the grand finale, Gavaskar advised Kohli:
"When he starts to move around, the head shakes as well. And therefore, it is not helping him. This is something you see in slow-mo as well. All that he needs to do is chill a bit and play that big hand and will give India the big score."
He added:
"Like I keep saying, what Kohli has to do is just play the shots that he plays with the same body balance. When he is looking to power the ball away, then he is losing his body balance and he misses the ball. So, all that needs to do is, that six he hit (off Reece Topley). It was brilliant balance and he just flicked the ball with the bottom hand. That's all he has to do."
Despite Kohli's struggles, India have managed to run through the competition by winning all seven games to reach the final.
The side is looking to win their second T20 World Cup title following their triumph in the inaugural edition in 2007.
Virat Kohli was India's top-scorer in their last T20 World Cup final
It has been 10 years since India last played in a T20 World Cup final in 2014 against Sri Lanka. In that contest, Virat Kohli starred with the bat for India, scoring a magnificent 58-ball 77, including five boundaries and four maximums.
Yet, the other batters struggled to come to grips with the Mirpur wicket as the Men in Blue finished at a below-par 130/4 in 20 overs. The Lankans completed the run-chase in a mere 17.5 overs.
Nevertheless, Kohli finished as the tournament's top run-getter with 319 runs at an average of over 106, thus winning the Player of the World Cup award.
It was the first of back-to-back Player of the Tournament honors for Kohli, who won the award again in 2016. The champion batter remains the all-time leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup history with 1,216 runs at an average of 57.90 and a strike rate of 128.81 in 34 outings.