"Not Acceptable": Virat Kohli's Childhood Coach Gives Honest Assessment Of India Stalwart's Batting

The Indian cricket team emerged triumphant 2-0 in the Test series against Bangladesh but the scoreline doesn't give a true reflection of how the series turned out. In the second Test, the team had to rely on runs from Ravichandran Ashwin to secure victory as the top-order batters, including stand-in skipper KL Rahul and Virat Kohli continued to struggle. Kohli's performance was such that even his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma didn't budge from criticising him. He even said that the manner in which Virat is getting out is 'not acceptable'.

In a chat on India News Sports, Rajkumar Sharma said that it is 'unfortunate' to see a batter of the class of Virat Kohli struggling against spinners from Bangladesh.

"A batter is quite disappointed after he gets out, and Virat Kohli is very aggressive by nature," he said on India News Sports. "But the way he has been getting out is not acceptable. It's unfortunate to see a batter of his stature struggle against Bangladeshi spinners. He should have shown more intent.

Rajkumar has also suggested Kohli to bat with a free mindset, with the intent being to unsettle the spinners.

"With both the mid-on and mid-off fielders inside the circle, he could have played a bit more freely. Unless you unsettle a spinner, he is not going to let you play. You need to do something innovative like playing a slog sweep or sweeping an outside off ball," he further explained.

India's top four batters, including Rahul and star batter Virat Kohli, has been struggling against spin for a while now. Team India is still in contention for World Test Championship (WTC) finals and they will have to win big against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy next year. India will be favourites no doubt, having lost only two Tests in the last decade at home. But their batting does not exude the same confidence like it used to.

With PTI inputs

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Team Virat Kohli Bangladesh vs India, 2022/23 Cricket