Virender Sehwag recalls the advice he and Gautam Gambhir gave to Virat Kohli
A file photo of Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag taking a single
What's the story?
During the rain delay in the first T20I between India and Australia, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag was praising Indian captain Virat Kohli and pointed out how the right-hander became a complete batsman on Star Sports Hindi.
He recalled Kohli's younger days when he used to bat with Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag for Delhi. Back then, Kohli used to struggle for rotating the strike and both the openers would talk to him on how to improve on that aspect. Sehwag also pointed that Kohli sharpened his ability to hit fours and rotate strike rather than working on his ability to hit big sixes.
"When Kohli used to open with me and Gauti, he didn't know how to take singles. We used to discuss this in the dressing room that he needs to learn how to take singles. He has perhaps learned from experience. Also, he has sharpened his ability to hit fours and rotate strike rather than hitting big sixes," Sehwag said.
In case you didn't know...
The first T20I between India and Australia has been stopped due to rain in Ranchi. India were holding all aces until players walked off as the Aussies were struggling at 118/8 after 18.4 overs. The Australian batsmen had no clue against the Indian spinners as they struggled to read their deliveries, something that is evident from their figures of 8-0-39-3.
Details
Going back to Kohli's issues with rotating the strike, the Indian skipper was often found scoring his runs at a slower pace. Some of the main reasons for this were his inability to find gaps and take singles to keep the scorecard ticking and his inability to hit sixes at will.
Over the years, he improved on all aspects of his game, something that is evident from his stature as a batsman at the batsman. Now, Kohli is easily the best when it comes to rotating the strike and apart from that, he has developed a knack of hitting (timing rather) the big shots when needed.
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Author's Take
Kohli's evolution as a batsman has come a long way as he has made sure that he addressed all his weaknesses, something that the other cricketers can learn from him. This is the reason why Kohli is arguably the best batsman across all the three formats at the moment.