“Keep your ego in your pocket” - Maninder Singh urges Virat Kohli to practice what he preached
Maninder Singh reckons Indian captain Virat Kohli needs to put into practice his thoughts of "keeping ego in the pocket" while batting in England.
Kohli’s barren run continued, as he was dismissed for 7 on Day 1 of the third Test at Headingley. India had crumbled to 73 for 9 in the 39th over after Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first.
At the virtual press conference ahead of the Headingley Test, Kohli commented that it is important to ‘keep your ego in your pocket’ while batting in English conditions. Reminding Kohli of his own advice, Maninder told ESPN Cricinfo:
“Before the Test match, Virat Kohli had said that in these English conditions you’ve got to keep your ego in your pocket. And I think that is absolutely right. If he tries to dominate, like Virat Kohli usually does, these are not the pitches where he can bat like that. He needs to spend some time there, like he did on the previous tour where he scored almost 600 runs. Once you know the pace and know how much the ball is seaming around, they you can carry on playing your shots.”
The former Indian spinner added:
“These are not flat Indian pitches, where you can just put your foot forward and start driving. And what Kohli preached, he will have to practice. Keep your ego in your pocket.”
Virat Kohli repeating his mistakes from 2014 tour: Maninder Singh
The former left-arm spinner feels that the demons of 2014 seem to have come back to haunt Kohli, as he is getting dismissed in similar fashion in the current series. Maninder opined:
“Virat Kohli is basically making the same mistakes that he was making on his first tour of England. He is playing away from the body. It could happen to you if you are not playing regular cricket. He got out a couple of times the same way as you did in 2014, when he just got a 138 runs in 10 innings."
The 56-year-old concluded:
“I think things start coming back - am I playing the wrong line? Should I be leaving these balls? All these Indian boys, in the first two Tests, they were leaving balls outside the off stump. I don’t know that happened in this Test match. They were wanting to play at it and paid the price for it. With Virat Kohli, he is going through a bad patch.”
Kohli has managed a highest score of 42 in the current series against England. He last scored a Test century in November 2019, during the Day-Night Test against Bangladesh.