In his pomp, Virat Kohli’s cover-drives would scorch the turf. On view would be footwork, timing and placement.
Now Kohli is feeling for deliveries around off. His footwork appears to have deserted him. Forget timing, he is now giving the slips catching practise.
Truth to tell, Kohli’s confidence is in his boots. When self-belief vanishes, so does the authority with the willow. And you discover ways of getting out.
Kohli’s last four innings in the Tata-IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore have been 1, 12, 0, 0, the zeros being golden ducks.
And he has not scored a half century in his last 11 innings across formats. The runs are drying out for Kohli.
On Saturday, on a seaming Brabourne surface, Sunrisers nippy left-armer Marco Jansen of two-way movement and bounce, found Kohli out as the batter played with hard hands and little footwork.
Kohli needs to get his body balance and alignment right. For that to happen, he has to rediscover his footwork. Once that takes place he will stroke with a still head, and would not be falling away. It’s a chain of events.
The struggling Kohli has to re-look his stance. Is he balanced and relaxed as he faces the ball? The distribution of body weight is critical so is the back swing, which needs to be straighter in times like these.
Kohli needs to travel to his basics and make his defence solid. Once that happens, his feet will move again and the strokes will flow.
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