BGT 2024-25: "Keep your status as a batsman in control a little," former batting coach Sanjay Bangar advices Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has scored 126 runs in three tests so far in the series.

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has suggested Virat Kohli keeps his instincts in check when he’s new to the crease while reflecting on his underwhelming form in the ongoing BGT 2024-25 and his persistently dismissals after edging balls outside the off-stump.

In three tests so far in the BGT 2024-25, Kohli has scored 126 runs in five innings. This includes a knock of 100* in Perth, which came after KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal had posted a double-century opening stand.

In the other four innings, Kohli has had to come early to the crease and got out cheaply, combining for only 26 runs. He’s got out nicking balls outside the off-stump in all of these innings.

In none of these four innings, he’s played more than 25 balls, further raising criticism and scrutiny over a familiar mode of dismissal.

Bangar, who’d worked with Kohli extensively at the Indian team and at RCB, advised the 36-year-old batsman to “surrender slightly to the game” by not chasing after deliveries that act as a bait.

“Sometimes you need to keep your status as a batter in control a little. When you surrender slightly to the game, spend a little time, ease out in the middle for some time, wait for the bowler to come to you, and do not go yourself towards the bowler, that’s the sign of a big player,” Bangar said on Star Sports.

Play as many balls as possible close to your front pad: Sanjay Bangar advices Virat Kohli

Bangar said Kohli needs to play as many deliveries as possible close to his front pad and not let his hands go away from his body.

“Play as many balls as possible close to your front pad and then the runs will flow because it’s not that he hasn’t scored runs. He scored a century three innings ago and in the series before that, he played a 70-run knock against New Zealand in Bengaluru,” the former coach added.

The fourth test at the MCG is set to get underway on December 26.

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