"He needs a little more concentration and stronger willpower to emerge from this phase" - Saba Karim on Virat Kohli's dismissal in 2nd ODI
Saba Karim believes Virat Kohli needs to exhibit greater concentration and willpower to end his elusive search for a big score.
Kohli scored 16 runs off 25 deliveries in the second ODI against England on Thursday, July 14. His dismissal reduced Team India to a score of 31/4 in the 12th over in pursuit of a 247-run target and they went on to lose the match by a massive margin of 100 runs.
During a discussion on Sony Sports, Saba Karim was asked about Kohli playing some sumptuous drives before he was dismissed. He replied:
"I feel he needs a little more concentration and stronger willpower to emerge from this phase. This story has been repeated by Virat Kohli many times. That is why we have been saying how good he looks, he is in good form, but the search for the big score is still there."
While observing that Kohli enjoys success when he plays close to his body, the former Indian wicketkeeper-batter pointed out that the modern batting great is playing at deliveries outside his comfort zone. Saba explained:
"Virat Kohli's specialty has always been that he allows the ball to come close to his body and then he plays his shots. But the way he has been getting out, the way he got out today as well, the ball was too far outside the off-stump and he tried to flirt with it and the result was that he got out again."
"I don't understand why there is so much talk about Virat Kohli. You can see quality of player, form ups & down in everyone's career. Look at how many runs he has scored & centuries scored. Look at his averages. He won many matches for India. He is great Batsman." - Rohit Sharma
Kohli hit three boundaries against pitched-up deliveries off Reece Topley's bowling at the start of his innings. David Willey then got him to poke at a good-length delivery that moved away from him, only for him to edge a catch to Jos Buttler behind the stumps.
"I am seeing a pattern in Virat Kohli's dismissals" - Saba Karim
Saba Karim highlighted that there is a pattern emerging in Kohli's dismissals and questioned if the bowlers are setting him up. He observed:
"I am seeing a pattern in Virat Kohli's dismissals, what happens before that. We saw in the Test matches that he played fantastic drives off the front foot, so are bowlers setting him up like that?"
The former Indian selector concluded by stating that Kohli needs to understand the opposition's game plan and find a counter to it. Saba elaborated:
"They first pitch it up to him, so that he commits himself on the front foot and then shorten the length slightly and then get a wicket there. It is necessary for Virat Kohli to understand this and then find a solution for it. You can emerge from this phase if you are ready to bring a change in your game plan."
Jos Buttler said "Virat Kohli is a human and he may have some low scores - he has been the best ODI player in the world, I am really surprised that Virat is facing criticism - he has won lots of games for India".
Kohli's propensity to play almost every delivery off the front foot has landed him in trouble many times. The bowlers have tended to take advantage of this shortcoming in his game, inducing edges with short-of-a-length deliveries which find him slightly out of position.