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Virat Kohli has struggled against spin when playing at home and Anil Kumble feels playing some domestic cricket would’ve helped.
Virat Kohli managed just one run before being dismissed. (BCCI Photo)
Virat Kohli continues to struggle against spinners when playing at home. On Friday, he was dismissed by New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner for just one on what was the second morning of the second Test in Pune. It was a strange dismissal with Kohli trying to negotiate a juicy full toss by playing across and in turn missing the shot completely to be bowled cheaply.
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It was the 19th time that Kohli was dismissed by a spinner since 2021 when playing a Test match at home and averaging 30.2 across 22 innings. India spin legend Anil Kumble was surprised at Kohli’s shot selection and felt he was a bit late in realising that Santner has bowled a full toss at him.
“I was very surprised because that’s the shot he (Kohli) doesn’t look to play at all,” Kumble said on JioCinema. “When he first came in, he opened up his stance to mainly counter the ball coming back in the way Shubman Gill got out. I thought that was a good approach to playing the left-arm spin. Probably he was a bit late to realise that it was a full toss and wanted to go across which is unlike Virat Kohli. Even if he’s looking to go across, it’s mostly with a straight bat that he looks to play through midwicket but here perhaps went a bit late.”
Kumble said pitches in India have in the past few years have been helpful to spinners and therefore, it becomes vital for any batter to negotiate the first 10-20 deliveries to get a hang of the conditions.
“The pitches over the last few years have aided spin,” Kumble said. When he’s (Kohli) come in to bat, generally, as an overseas spinner in Indian conditions, you are on the defensive. Whereas here, you are in the attacking mode. Suddenly, the dynamics change. That’s been a challenge for a middle order batter to straightaway come on a turning pitch and to survive. That’s why I said 10-20 balls that you need to play and that’s where the challenge has been for even someone of the quality of Virat Kohli,” Kumble said.
When asked by former India batter turned commentator Abhimanyu Mukund if playing some domestic cricket would have helped Kohli’s cause, Kumble replied in affirmative but said it’s not the only reason why the former captain has been regularly falling to spinners.
“Yeah, maybe just one innings or a couple of innings would have helped. Playing in a match situation than the amount of practice that you do certainly is an upperhand for anyone. Maybe if the team management felt that would have perhaps helped his game to start off against spin,” Kumble said.
He continued, “But I don’t think that you can just look at that as one factor for the dismissals he has had especially against spin because I feel when he’s walked in, the pitches have been conducive to the spinners rather than the other way around. I feel over the few years that we have seen him struggle against spin especially at the start of his innings has been not just about the attacking mindset of a spinner but also the conditions.”
