Master’s advice behind success of master of chases

HE TOLD ME THAT I have t o appr oach a fast bowl er (forwardpress) just l ike a spinner .

Virat Kohli has forgotten to fail these days it seems. The Indian skipper has time and again showed the way to succeed under pressure with a perfect technique. Something, which even the great Sachin Tendulkar has lauded time and again. Cut to 2014 and the case was not so as Kohli failed to get any 50 plus score in five Tests against England in an away tour. In an interview with former England captain Nasser Hussain on bcci.tv, he says chinks in technique coupled with desperation to succeed in England caused his downfall. He added that Tendulkar had a big role to play in correcting his technique. “I had put too much pressure on myself before going to England (2014) that I needed to score here,” Kohli said.

FAULTY STANCE

The India skipper then decoded his earlier stance.

“I used to stand at two leg (middle stump) and my stance was pretty closed and then I figured out that after initial movement of the backfoot, my toe wasn’t going towards point rather it was towards cover point, so anyway my hip was opening up initially.

“So to get the feel of the ball, I had to open up my hip as I was too side on. Anyway, I had too much of a bottom hand grip and I didn’t have too much room for my shoulder, to adjust to the line of the ball, so it was getting too late when it swung in front of my eyes,” Virat explained.

SUCCESS IN AUSTRALIA

Kohli then spoke about how things changed in Australia. “Short ball was not an issue for me. That really helped me in widening my stance and that forward press (front foot stride) that is important at the international level.

So in Australia, I wasn’t worried about pace and bounce as I knew that I could handle it. But I stood a foot outside the crease to counter those deliveries on the corridor (of the off-stump) and standing on the fourth stump. So they had to really bowl far from me and unless my bodyweight is far behind, they can’t hit my pads.”

HELP FROM SACHIN

Kohli also said that the forward movement was something that Tendulkar also advocated.

“He told me that I have to approach a fast bowler (forward press) just like a spinner. One has to get on top of the ball not worry about pace or swing, you got to get towards the ball and give the ball lesser chance to move around and trouble you.”