"It looks to me like it's that concentration, that mental toughness about watching the ball and reacting" - Michael Vaughan dissects Virat Kohli's woes with the bat for India
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes a lack of concentration is Indian batsman Virat Kohli's biggest obstacle at the moment.
The ace batter was once again undone after looking in good touch during the second ODI on Thursday (July 14) at Lord's. Kohli has been well short of runs in India's ongoing tour of England.
Coming into bat in the third over with the scoreboard reading 4/1, it seemed as if the stars aligned for Kohli. The prospect of a run chase coupled with a relatively good batting surface instilled belief in many that he would turn his recent form around.
The former skipper lived up to his billing initially, scoring a couple of his trademark drives to cross the double-figure mark. However, Kohli's innings was brought to an abrupt end after he edged David Willey to Jos Buttler playing away from his body a few overs later.
It's a dismissal that has now become commonplace across formats for the former Indian skipper.
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Stressing that Kohli needs to take a breather from the game as his concentration is waning, Michael Vaughan said on Cricbuzz:
"I watch Virat and every time he bats, he looks fine. Then he just surprises you when he gets out. It is not something that I see in his movement or technique that is a flaw, he is just making the odd mistake, probably concentration."
Vaughan added:
"I've said it before, he needs a breather from the game. At the minute, it looks to me like it's that concentration, that mental toughness about watching the ball and reacting. It is very very difficult if you are drained."
Kohli scored 16 off 25 deliveries before his stay at the crease came to an end in the 12th over of the run chase. With scores of 11, 20, 1, 3 and 16 over the course of the tour so far, the right-handed batsman is in desperate need of runs at the moment.
Noting that it was up to Kohli to figure out how to get out of this rut, former pacer Zaheer Khan said during the same interaction:
"Virat has to figure out exactly what it is going to take. If it means taking a break, so he should. If it means going out and playing more games, then that is the way you have to go about it. It is pretty much an individual call for him to figure out."
Khan added:
"The intent is the same, the body language is the same, he will get the crowd involved, and his personality has remained the same."
The 33-year-old has been rested from India's upcoming tour of the West Indies. The Men In Blue are scheduled to play three ODIs and five T20Is, beginning later this month.
"It's one of those innings where the tone did not quite get set" - Michael Vaughan on India's effort with the bat
After bowling England out for 246, India were fancied to secure a win and wrap up the series. However, a spirited bowling performance by the hosts, led by Reece Topley's 6-24, brought them back into the contest.
The famed Indian batting unit looked shaky from the start after new-ball bowlers Topley and Willey set the tone with consecutive maiden overs.
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Opining that the Indian opening batters were guilty of waiting for the bad ball to come, Vaughan said:
"Not sure whether Hardik Pandya had to take such a high-risk shot at that stage of the game with him and[Ravindra] Jadeja playing nicely. It's one of those innings where the tone did not quite get set. For the first 2-3 overs, it was as if they were waiting for the bad ball."
He continued:
"Even though the ball might be doing something, you have to show intent. It was the body language of the opening pair, you did not really feel like they were aggressive in their mindset."
Several Indian batters fell prey to soft dismissals. Shikhar Dhawan gloved a stray delivery down the leg-side while Rishabh Pant dished out a simple catch off a full-toss to depart without scoring.
The constant fall of wickets hampered India's pursuit of the target as they were reduced to 73-5 at one stage. Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami then scored in the 20s to take their team over the three-figure mark.
Vaughan also addressed Pant's poor run of form in white-ball cricket. He claimed that the wicket-keeper batter should be aggressive from the word go rather than employ a cautious approach and stated:
"Pant has got the freedom to be aggressive in white-ball cricket. In red-ball cricket, it looks like he has a careless approach and here it looks like he is overthinking it."
Vaughan concluded:
"He is the one player in that order who can win India a game in the space of 15 overs. He just needs to free himself and be even more aggressive."
India will take on England in the third and final ODI of the series at Old Trafford, Manchester on Sunday (July 17). The series is currently level at 1-1