Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik said that Virat Kohli is thinking too much about his weakness against the ball outside off stump, which is negatively affecting him as well. As per Karthik, leaving balls outside off the stump is playing a trick and blurring his judgment as well. Kohli was dismissed for three off 16 balls in India’s first innings on Day 3 of the third Test against Australia in Brisbane on Monday, December 16 as well.

While discussing the former Indian captain’s dismissal on Cricbuzz, Karthik said, “So, he is saying, ‘I don’t want to play anything outside the off stump. I want to leave it’. But he is so tuned to doing it and he is thinking about it so much through the day and in the night that, eventually, the moment it is thrown out there, I think his body reacts in such a way that his hands go hard at the ball. And that’s what inducing the edge.”

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“If you are trying to tell me that Virat doesn’t know he shouldn’t be playing outside the off stump, I don’t think it is right. He is aware, he wants to leave it. But, as much as he is telling himself, when the game is on and he is in the middle and he is all alone, I think the mind is playing a trick, where the moment he sees it on release, his perception goes towards the ball and that is hampering him,” he further added.

However, India are in big trouble in the Brisbane Test, which was affected by rain as well and the game ended in a draw.