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He has to play the shot: Vikram Rathour sheds light on Virat Kohli's outside-off struggles

WION Web Team
New Delhi, India Updated: Dec 30, 2021, 03:51 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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Batting coach Vikram Rathour has opened up on Virat Kohli's knack of throwing his wicket by playing the deliveries being outside-off stump.

Virat Kohli ended the year 2021 with the bat, on Wednesday (December 29), without scoring any international century. The right-hander's dry spell has continued for another year as it became the second successive calendar year where he ended without a triple-figure knock. 

After falling for 35 in the first innings of India's first Test versus South Africa, at SuperSpork Park, Centurion, Kohli came out to bat with a positive intent in the side's second essay, after their 130-run first-innings lead. Nonetheless, the 33-year-old fell for, in a similar fashion by chasing a delivery outside off-stump. Thus, batting coach Vikram Rathour has opened up on Kohli's knack of throwing his wicket by playing the deliveries on outside-off lines.

"This shot brings him a lot of runs. So he has to play the shot. When to play the shot, under what situations, we need to have discussions,” Rathour said in the press conference after the 4th day's play in Centurion on Wednesday.

Rathour also addressed India's senior pros Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane's poor returns with the bat. "Pujara in past has played some important innings for us, you see these are challenging conditions, not many people have scored runs here. We need to be patient as long as they are trying their best, giving their best as a coaching unit we are fine. Are we getting impatient? Not at this stage, I think,” he said.

For the unversed, Pujara only managed 16 runs in the Centurion Test -- with a golden duck and 16 -- whereas Rahane looked very good in both the outings before falling for 48 and 20 respectively. 

At lunch on Day 5, India are only 3 wickets away from winning the first Test against Dean Elgar-led SA at Centurion. It will be India's first-ever win at the venue and fourth overall in the rainbow nation.