‘Virat Kohli needs to do what Sachin Tendulkar did in 2004’ – Dilip Vengsarkar

Many experts have shared their opinion on how Virat Kohli can snap out of his poor form and former India player Dilip Vengsarkar is the latest one to do so.

Kohli hasn’t been able to score a hundred in international cricket in the last two years. His last hundred came in a Test match against Bangladesh back in November 2019. Since 2020, he has been averaging just 27.25 in Tests and 36.75 in ODIs. While he has managed to score at a good average of 42.18 in T20Is during this period, the overall decline and struggle is clearly there to see.

He has been getting out in the same manner over and over again — that is while chasing deliveries outside off-stump. This is becoming a frustrating pattern and Vengsarkar thinks Kohli needs to take a leaf out of Sachin Tendulkar’s book to regain his form again.

“If you take the example of Sachin Tendulkar in 2004, he was getting out in the same way in Australia. So, he cut off that scoring area completely and scored 241 in the last Test match of that series, without playing the cover drive. Similarly, Virat also has the ability to do the same, he needs to work hard in that area and play effectively,” Vengsarkar told Khaleej Times.

Kohli has started in an attacking manner in most of his recent white-ball knocks but he has given away his wickets to loose shots at the same time. Vengsarkar thinks there is nothing wrong with Kohli’s technique as he has scored runs with the same all these years. But he has asked Kohli to be cautious at the same time, more so while targeting deliveries outside off stump.

“Look, he is a great player and he has scored all his runs all these years with the same technique. So I don’t think there is anything wrong technically. But yes, he is getting out in the same fashion, so he should stay more alert and work hard on that area because the bowlers are now going to bowl that off-stump line to him all the time. They are not going to bowl on his pads, they are not going to bowl the half volleys to him,” added Vengsarkar

Kohli has been rested for the ODIs and T20Is against West Indies but he is expected to go on the tour of Zimbabwe and play in the Asia Cup as well. He is out of form at present but there is still ample time left to turn things around. His experience is going to be very valuable for India during the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.