India's senior batter Virat Kohli, on Thursday, gave hope to fans on social media of having found the cure to his outside off-stump woes after he was spotted doing shadow batting practice during Australia's first innings on Day 1 of the fourth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Melbourne. Amid a forgettable day for Kohli, who found himself in the midst of a controversy following his altercation with Aussie debutant Sam Konstas, the video came as a relief for the fans.
Kohli sparked hopes of a comeback after a lean run of form in the home series against New Zealand in early November, with a century in the second innings in Perth. However, he managed scores of just 7, 11 and 3 in the next three innings across two Tests, which saw him drop below 20 in the ICC Test rankings.
More than the scores, what emerged as a bigger issue for Kohli was the re-emergence of his weakness against the deliveries outside the off-stump. Four of his five deliveries during the ongoing series came against such deliveries.
However, the former India captain was seen practising leaving the balls outside the off stump on Day 1 of the Melbourne Test when doing shadow practice.
Ahead of the start of the Test match, during one of his net sessions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Kohli was seen asking pacers to bowl down the channel of uncertainty.
'Can he bring the square cut out?'
{{/usCountry}}Ahead of the start of the Test match, during one of his net sessions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Kohli was seen asking pacers to bowl down the channel of uncertainty.
'Can he bring the square cut out?'
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to Star Sports, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan urged Kohli to show that same discipline which he spotted during that viral video from the MCG Test, before asking the 36-year-old if he can bring the square cut out.
"Absolutely, there won't be a bigger opportunity than this because the series is at stake. It's embedded in his mind that he needs to leave balls outside the off-stump. When the match was ongoing on the first day, he was shadow-practicing that he needs to leave the ball. The discipline he was talking about, he needs to translate that into execution," he said.
"We expect him to bat with full passion and bring that discipline. I would also say that can he bring the square cut out. He doesn't play the sweep shot, but still plays them in between. So can he bring the square cut out because he will be trapped by bowling outside off-stump?" Pathan added.