Former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that Virat Kohli might not be mentally fresh as he was in 2018 to tackle the ever-persistent threat from the English seamers, especially James Anderson. Manjrekar said the Indian skipper has an obvious weakness, unlike other great batsmen of the past and the hosts seem to have exploited that once again in the ongoing Test series. He has not been able to surpass the 100-run mark since 50 international innings.
After the stunning Lord’s win, India had an opportunity to continue the dominance over England as they won the toss and opted to bat in the 3rd Test at Headingley. However, India’s top-order collapsed with Virat getting dismissed for 7. He fell to his nemesis James Anderson while driving a full-length delivery.
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Talking about the same during a chat on Sony Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “Unlike so many greats of his league, he (Kohli) has got a very obvious weakness. Every time that gets exploited, Virat Kohli gets found out. It’s not that he is getting out in different ways like Ajinkya Rahane does. I am sure it’s starting to bother him. The reason he got those runs in 2018 was not that he was cover-driving beautifully or pulling it superbly like he was in Australia against Mitchell Johnson.”
He further added, “It was all about leaving the ball, which was about doing something he was not accustomed to. It requires a lot of mental effort. I am just starting to feel that maybe the mental reserves that he has is he as fresh mentally as he was in 2018 with that big challenge of seeing James Anderson through and leaving balls after balls? He is not leaving as many balls this time.”
Meanwhile, former India pacer Ajit Agarkar said James Anderson should get some credit for churning out Kohli’s wicket again after not managing to do so even once during the 2018 Test series.
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Ajita Agarkar said, “The way James Anderson has bowled to him has been brilliant. Even during the 2018 tour when he had success against Anderson, everything was going away from him. In this series, you have seen him bowl something coming back into him or a lot straighter with wobbly seam, pitches, and then straightens. You have got to give credit to him. He has worked out because he knows Kohli is likely to leave anything that is going away from him.”
England took a 42-run lead at stumps on Day 1 of the 3rd Test as they dominated India both with the bat and the ball.
