Virat Kohli's batting horror has become the talk of the town and has left many cricket pundits giving their two cents on what's wrong with the India's batting juggernaut. Meanwhile, South Africa's batting legend AB De Villiers has also come up with a piece of advice for Virat Kohli, whose batting struggles spanned through the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Kohli's batting rut was also one of the reasons why India failed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-2025 title. Australia thrashed India by six wickets in the fifth and final Test in Sydney to win the title.
AB de Villiers has offered some valuable advice to Kohli and feels that the India's batting maestro needs to address his weakness against balls delivered outside the off stump.
Kohli averaged less than 25 in the five-match series against Australia, as his recurring issues outside the off stump majorly became the reason of dismissals. This pattern continued throughout the series, culminating in his dismissal in the final Test in Sydney. In that innings, Kohli, visibly frustrated, was once again dismissed by a ball outside the off stump, expressing his disappointment with himself.
De Villiers also suggested that Kohli should focus more on his batting and minimize distractions. He advised Kohli to avoid engaging in unnecessary confrontations with opposition players, which can sometimes detract from his focus on the game. Notably, Kohli was fined 20 per cent of his match fee after the 'shoulder-bump' episode with Australia's Sam Konstas in the MCG Test.
De Villiers emphasized the importance of mental reset for Kohli. He believes that Kohli possesses the necessary skills and experience to overcome this challenge. The key, according to de Villiers, lies in Kohli's ability to clear his mind before each delivery and approach every ball with renewed focus.
"Of course, he can. Every single batter in the world has got some sort of weakness. It takes a lot of character, a lot of hunger, lot of hours in the nets. I think the thing is to reset your mind, every time," De Villiers said while speaking in the show 360 live on his X.
"The skill, experience and greatness of the guy are not an issue. It's about the refocus after every single ball. Maybe sometimes he gets too involved," he added.
De Villiers further advised Kohli to avoid engaging in on-field altercations during, especially when he is struggling with his form. He believes that these individual battles are distracting Kohli and hindering his ability to focus on his own game.
"I think with Virat (Kohli), he gets involved with the battle on the field. That's one of his biggest strengths and it can also be a weakness. During this series, we saw him have individual battles with some of the players, the crowd got under his skin. Virat loves the fight, but when you're not in the form of your life, it's best to get rid of those things. As a batter, it is to reset every single time and realize every ball is an event and just forget about the bowler," De Villiers concluded.
Kohli had a torrid outing in the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy 202-2025 series where he managed to notch just 190 runs in five matches across 10 innings at a lowly average of 23.75 despite scoring a century in Perth.
Here are the scores which Kohli has notched in his last 20 Test innings:
46, 12, 6, 17, 47, 29*, 0, 70, 1, 17, 4, 1, 5, 𝟭𝟬𝟬*, 7, 11, 3, 36, 5, 17
Notably he has only scored 434 in the last 20 Test matches at a staggering batting average of 24.11. And if you minus his Perth century, the batting average further drops to 17.57.