"What solution can Gambhir or Nayar possibly give?" - Former India opener weighs in on Virat Kohli's batting woes in BGT 2024-25
Former India opener and ex-selector Devang Gandhi has questioned the criticism of head coach Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar amid Virat Kohli's offside struggles in BGT 2024-25. According to Gandhi, the coaches have honest conversations, but the onus remains on the player to work on his flaws and come up with a solution.
The role of India's coaches has come under greater scrutiny following a social media post by Sanjay Manjrekar in which he questioned why major technical issues have remained unresolved for so long with certain Indian batters. While Gambhir is the current head coach of the Indian team, former all-rounders Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate are the assistant coaches.
Speaking to news agency PTI, Gandhi opined that while it would be easy to target someone like Nayar, criticizing him wouldn't serve any purpose.
"It would be very easy to target Nayar as a low hanging fruit or for that matter Gautam. But they have just come into the system. To discuss or nudge a player, first you need to be around for some time, and once there is some kind of mutual trust between the two, you can offer him solutions. But, at this level, it is more about the experienced player's own mental make-up," he explained.
Speaking specifically about Kohli's woes outside the off stump, the NCA Level-2 coach opined that the growing influence of T20 cricket has had a negative impact on his technique with regard to leaving deliveries outside off stump.
"The moment his bat is away from the body, the bat-face will open up towards cover. Now this is a white ball problem of hitting through the line. In India, the ball will hit the bottom of the bat, but in Australia, it will come towards the upper part (of the bat). What solution can Gambhir or Nayar possibly give, apart from telling him to not play those deliveries?," he added.
The former opener, who played four Tests for India, further pointed out that Kohli has scored 30 Test tons and doesn't need to be told how to bat. He, however, added that the seasoned batter will have to show greater patience to score big runs and that the best the coaches can do is discuss what can be done.
Virat Kohli's stats in BGT 2024-25 so far
Kohli has scored 126 runs in five innings in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He began the series with five in the first innings in Perth and followed it up with an unbeaten 100 in the second innings.
The 36-year-old was dismissed for seven and 11 in Adelaide and managed only three in the first innings of The Gabba Test. The latest instance also saw him being dismissed while chasing a ball outside off stump.