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Sunil Gavaskar feels Virat Kohli’s recurring dismissals due to an open-faced bat is a matter of concern.
Champions Trophy: India batter Virat Kohli (AP)
Sunil Gavaskar is worried about Virat Kohli and the Indian star batter’s continued and recurring manner of dismissals due to an open-faced bat.
Kohli was dismissed for 22 by wrist-spinner Rishad Hossain while trying to cut the ball, only to be caught by Soumya Sarkar at backward point in the Champions Trophy against Bangladesh.
It was the sixth consecutive time Kohli has been dismissed by spin in ODIs, as he had struggled against England’s leg-spinner Adil Rashid too in the recent home series.
This is after the 36-year-old Kohli had a tough tour of Australia where fast bowlers repeatedly dismissed him in the off-side corridor.
“It is to a great extent due to the fact that the bat face opens up, the same thing happens when he’s playing against the quicks in Australia,” Sunil Gavaskar was quoted as saying to India Today.
“The bat face is opening up, looking to play through the covers, opening the face of the bat, that gets him into trouble. So that is something that he’s got to watch out for,” he added.
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“A couple of times before he got out, he reached for Rishad, the ball turned, the bat face opened, and luckily the bat face opened, and so there was no nick. So that is something that he’ll have to tighten up on now,” Gavaskar said.
“But yes, I guess if you’re getting out to the same kind of bowling, then you know, there is a bit of concern,” he added.
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Kohli, who scored 765 runs in 11 matches during the 2023 ODI World Cup, has struggled to replicate that form this year, managing only 137 runs in six innings at an average of 22.83, with just one half-century. In Tests since 2024, he has scored only 440 runs in 11 matches.
India will face arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday in the Champions Trophy.
(With inputs from Agencies)
