India's senior batter Virat Kohli has been on the receiving end of criticism for his inability to make useful conditions on Australia tour barring the century in Perth. Kohli was caught behind eight times in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and cricket pundits have said that it his reliance on playing shots away from body on front foot that led to these dismissals. However, former Indian opener Deep Dasgupta feels it is not a technical problem which persisted for lack of trying. He feels Kohli was dismissed off genuine deliveries and other Indian batters got out in similar fashion as well.
“It’s not a technical problem, I think. It’s not that he wasn’t trying—he was trying quite a bit. Throughout the series, across all five Test matches, he tried different things," Dasgupta said in a conversation with India Today.
"We keep talking about ‘outside off-stump, outside off-stump.’ But the fact of the matter is, everyone gets out ‘outside off-stump.’ Look at all the dismissals, except for the Perth Test where it was a bit different. In the last four Tests, 80 per cent of the dismissals were caught in the slips. Everyone got out that way. That’s one thing.
"People are talking about 8 out of 10 dismissals. Among those, there were four or five deliveries that were genuinely very good—you have to give credit to the bowlers. There may have been three or four where he could have left the ball, ones he went chasing in the fifth or sixth stump line.
"If you reflect on it, it was a kind of perfect storm for Virat Kohli," he added.
Dasgupta on Kohli's anxiety to kickstart innings
Dasgputa listed out the shots missing from Kohli's arsenal and what the 36-year-old's approach must be as he chased deliveries outside off stump. He hopes that his underwhelming run in the series does not define what he has done over the years.
“The fact is, he’s so dependent on the cover drive and playing on the off-side. More often than not, we don’t see him playing the cut shot or a backfoot punch. So, he wanted to play those drives on the off-side. But those conditions didn’t allow him to do that. He wasn’t getting runs, and the anxiety to get bat on ball and kickstart his innings with a quick 15-20 runs didn’t work out. I believe it was a perfect storm for him," the Bengal-born batter who played eight Tests for India elaborated.
"If you just look at the numbers without delving deeper, it looks very ugly. But if you examine it closely, you might see a different story.
"Yes, he had a very poor series compared to his usual standards. At the end of the day, I hope this series doesn’t define who he is."
All depends on Kohli's hunger
Dasgupta drew parallels of his recent slump to the 2014 England series where he had a poor run as well. In the end, it boils down to whether Kohli has the hunger to continue and bounce back.
“This is reminiscent of the 2014 England series, where he averaged 13. But he bounced back from that. The big question is, does he still have the hunger to do it? As I said, I hope this series doesn’t define him," he further added.
Several cricketers have suggested that Kohli should play domestic or County cricket to get back to form in red-ball cricket. With five months to go in the five-Test series against England, it is yet to be seen which route Kohli takes.