Virat Kohli goes back to drawing board to get ready for Gabba challenge after Adelaide's failure: ‘He was playing…’
Harbhajan Singh shared details about Kohli's training session, where the veteran India spinner suggested that the star batter worked on his back-foot game.
Team India's talismanic batter Virat Kohli has started preparations for the third Test against Australia after twin failures in Adelaide, where he scored 7 and 11. Kohli got out, poking the ball outside off stump, which has been a chink in his armoury for a long time now, and he is still looking for the solution. However, a new challenge awaits him in the third Test at Gabba, where the bounce forces players to play more on the back foot, which isn't a strong suit for a front-footed Kohli.
Harbhajan Singh shared details about Kohli's training session ahead of the third Test, where the veteran India spinner suggested that the star batter worked on his back-foot game.
"Yes, whatever little I have seen him batting in the nets today. I have played a lot of cricket with him. He is a front foot player. Knowing the bounce on Indian soil, you have to be on your front foot. The people who have played here, the likes of Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Langer, Hayden. They were good back foot players, because of the bounce. It is the kind of bounce you get in Australia, you have to be good player of bounce. You need to have a good backfoot game. That's what he was practising," Harbhajan told Star Sports.
It has not been a very fruitful year for Kohli as a batter this year across all formats. He has scored 611 runs in 21 matches to his name, averaging 22.62. Meanwhile, the century at Perth was a glimmer of hope for him where he looked in good touch, but things went downhill for him in the pink-ball clash.
‘Virat Kohli knows that Gabba will be a different wicket’
However, Harbhajan asserted that Kohli had returned to the drawing board after Adelaide's loss and started working on his backfoot game to prepare for the Gabba bounce.
"Specifically I have noticed today. He was playing a lot of deliveries on the backfoot. He was going forward for the fuller ball but those balls which were slightly shorter than the length of full ball, he was either leaving or trying to play them. The ball from the back foot, he knows that Gabba will be a different wicket where he will get to face a lot of bounce and pace and that back foot game needs to be included in his game. Good to see him working on the game. I am sure, knowing Virat Kohli, we have seen him making a comeback after every setback," he added.
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