NEW DELHI: The legendary Sunil Gavaskar has come up with a piece of advice for struggling Virat Kohli, whose weakness against deliveries outside the off-stump continues to trouble him in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Gavaskar advised Kohli to refrain from playing deliveries outside the off-stump until he settles in at the crease. He also highlighted that the opposition quickly identifies his approach and adjusts their field placements accordingly.
"This approach should be that in the beginning, when you are not set, you should not go for a lunge until you are settled. Look, in the first innings, the shot played went over the top," Gavaskar told Star Sports.
"Now, the Australian players must have noticed, when they came for the second innings, they placed a fielder there, so he needs to manage that. If he plays straight, he is good enough to hit between mid-on, mid-wicket, and straight if he just concentrates," he added.
Gavaskar also urged Kohli to adopt Sachin Tendulkar's approach, where he refrained from playing any shots outside the off-stump, a strategy that helped him score nearly 250 runs against Australia in Sydney.
"Just like Sachin Tendulkar did in Sydney, in the previous three Test matches, he was getting out outside the off-stump, caught in the covers, or in the slips. He didn't play even one cover drive, only played straight and scored around two hundred and fifty runs by controlling himself and deciding not to play there. If he plays like this, just as Sachin scored a double century, Kohli can also do the same."
Gavaskar also feels Australia will have the momentum in the third Test against India starting on Saturday thanks to their victory in the Pink Ball Test at Adelaide last week.
"The momentum that the Indian team got in Perth was lost during the 10-day gap. Now, the momentum is with Australia because they have won this Test match," Gavaskar said.
"After the Adelaide Test, a few days later, you are playing at The Gabba. So, the momentum is now with the Australian team," he added.
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