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Anil Kumble has advised Virat Kohli to ‘relax’ and learn from Rohit Sharma’s ‘freedom’ in batting to regain form.
Anil Kumble (L, anil.kumble/Instagram) and Virat Kohli (Sportzpics Photo)
Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble believes Virat Kohli has been ‘trying a bit too hard’ to get back to form, which in turn is affecting him even more. Kumble said Kohli should learn from skipper Rohit Sharma and ‘relax a bit’, trusting India’s batting strength to take his time and not put too much pressure on himself.
Kohli got out for 22 in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh, his 12th innings without a century, a run that began after the first Test in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year. He got out mistiming a cut against leg-spinner Rishad Hossain straight to the point fielder inside the circle. It was another familiar pattern of leggies troubling him with deliveries turning away from him.
“I think he’s trying a bit too hard. You can see that in the way he is going about his innings. He just needs to not worry about it,” Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo, as quoted by PTI.
“Rohit comes in there, has the freedom because there is plenty of batting and all of them are in great form. Similarly for Virat, he just needs to come in and not worry about anything else. All players go through tough moments in their career, but I get a feeling watching him bat, I think he is putting a lot more pressure on himself,” Kumble added.
“When you have that kind of pressure and you have that kind of expectation, you suddenly start putting undue importance to all of that and then try hard to do well. When you do that, you’re not really relaxed. The best innings that I am sure he’s played, he’s not even thinking about all of that.”
Kumble analysed that Kohli’s lack of confidence was showing in how he was trying hard to ‘score runs’ instead of knocking singles and playing naturally.
“To start off against spin, on surfaces like that, you need a lot of confidence. He’s certainly trying too hard to manoeuvre that. He’s a good player of spin when he’s in form, when he wants to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike. Now he’s trying too hard to score runs rather than just manoeuvre, and that’s been his game plan. He just needs to relax a little bit and not worry too much about the outcome of what happens on the field rather than just go out there and have the freedom to play naturally, what he does really well,” he added.
Kohli and India will now face Pakistan in the Champions Trophy on Sunday, February 23.
