India batting coach Vikram Rathour feels Test captain Virat Kohli shouldn’t give up on expansive drives but he needs to be judicious while choosing the right delivery for the perfect execution of his shots.
Kohli, one of the finest batsmen to play the game, completed a miserable 24 months without a hundred as he has scored only 652 runs in 14 Tests at an average of 26.08, almost half his career average before this match of 50.65.
SA v IND, 1st Test Day 4: Highlights
Kohli getting caught behind by the keeper or in the slip cordon while trying to lunge into cover drives and off-drives have become some sort of a norm and Rathour was asked about the kind of discussions that he has had with the Indian skipper.
‘Virat Kohli needs to play those shots’
“These are shots which brings him (Kohli) lots of runs and it’s his scoring shot. He needs to play that shot and I think it is always your strength that turns out to be your weakness as well,” Rathour said at the end of the fourth day’s play of the first Test against South Africa here.
While Sachin Tendulkar once didn’t play a single cover drive against Australia at Sydney during his 241 back in 2004, Rathour believes that merely curbing a certain stroke isn’t the solution.
“If you don’t play a certain shot, you will never get out playing that shot. You will never score runs as well. Now, when to play that shot, that’s the part there are constant discussions.
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