Sunil Gavaskar’s Candid Opinion on Virat Kohli’s Latest Dismissal at the 7th Stump

It is very rare to have Sunil Gavaskar, one of India’s cricketing legends, tell it like it is. Soon after Virat Kohli was dismissed for a mere three runs in the first innings of the third Test against Australia, Gavaskar made no bones about his strong criticism of the India batsman’s poor shot selection, especially when Kohli edged Josh Hazlewood to wicket-keeper Alex Carey, even though the delivery from Hazlewood was more than enough outside the stump. Gavaskar was forthright in his criticism. He said there was no need for Kohli to play at a ball so wide. He termed it as a ball which was on the 7th or 8th stump line.

“If it had been on the fourth stump, I would have understood,” Gavaskar said in an interview on Channel 7 on Monday after Kohli’s dismissal. “But this one was wide, on the seventh or eighth stump. There was no need to play it,” he added.

Gavaskar said Kohli would be very upset at being dismissed in that manner. At the same time, considering the fact that his innings mattered a lot for India with Australia posting a challenging 445, his lack of patience on that tricky Gabba surface could be something Kohli needed to learn. “He’d be very upset with that. If he had shown a little patience, he could have been not out alongside KL Rahul,” said Gavaskar.

A typical trouble Kohli has been going through against deliveries outside the off-stump, particularly in Australia. As he naturally plays cover drives against such deliveries, this sometimes proves to be his demise. Though he has practiced enough in the nets, during the matches, Kohli has found it very difficult to curb these natural instincts. Many experts have told him that he should learn the tricks from Sachin Tendulkar to handle such deliveries, particularly on Australian pitches where the ball tends to bounce more.