In 1989, during India’s tour of Pakistan, a distraught Mohammad Azharuddin had turned to Zaheer Abbas for advice. He was going through an elongated lean patch and was on the verge of losing his place in the Indian team. Zaheer told Azhar to change his grip and it changed the course of the latter’s career. After failing in the first Test in Karachi, Azhar bounced back with a match-saving 109 in the second Test in Faisalabad. He returned from the series with 312 runs in four Tests, including a hundred and two half-centuries.
Cut to 2024, and from a distance Zaheer has a piece of advice for Virat Kohli – “concentrate harder”. The legendary former Pakistan batsman refused to believe that Kohli’s career has entered the twilight zone and he backed the former India captain to regain his mojo in Australia.
“Kohli doesn’t have any technical problem, just that he needs to concentrate harder,” Zaheer said, speaking to RevSportz. “When you are playing almost non-stop cricket, your mind can become jaded and you tend to lose concentration while batting. I think this is Kohli’s problem at the moment. He needs to be in the right frame of mind. He still has a few years of cricket left in him.”
Somehow it feels like Kohli no longer remains the batsman he used to be. Over the last two years, he has scored 1,186 runs in 20 Tests at an average of 35.93. In the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand that India lost 3-0, Kohli made just 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50. His career average, which was above 55 at one stage, has now slid to 47.83. Against this backdrop, he is going to Australia for a five-Test series. Maybe, there’s no further room for a slip-up.
“I back Kohli to score runs on true Australian pitches,” said Zaheer. “He would enjoy batting there. The ball will come on to the bat. There will not be much lateral movement, and he is a great player. If he can get into the right frame of mind, he should score a lot of runs.”
A change of scenery could help, and Kohli has always enjoyed batting in Australia. In 13 Tests Down Under, he has 1,352 at an average of 54.08, including six hundreds.
Meanwhile, the ex-Pakistan skipper chose not to read too much into Kohli’s travails against spin in the New Zealand series. “Batting sometimes can become a lottery on rank turners,” said Zaheer. “Anytime a ball might come with your name on it. Such pitches can make even average spinners look like world-class bowlers. I don’t think Kohli has any technical issues against spin. That said, he hasn’t been scoring runs for a while now and he has to get back to form in Australia. A lot will depend on how performs in the series.”
India’s T20-style batting approach in Test cricket under Gautam Gambhir has become a cause celebre. Rewind to Kohli’s dismissal in the first innings of the second Test in Pune. A full-toss from Mitchell Santner went under the bat, as the star batsman tried to play it across the line. Ten times out of ten, Kohli would have put the delivery away if he were playing with a straight bat. It was clear that he was trying to innovate to be in sync with the team’s newly-adopted philosophy.
It had happened to Joe Root as well, as he tried to adjust to the demands of Bazball. Several times he got out trying to manufacture shots – an attempted reverse-lap against Jasprit Bumrah earlier this year was a case in point. Returning to his natural game has reaped rich dividends for the England great. “Kohli must play his natural game,” said Zaheer.