Former Indian Cricketer Comes To Gambhir's Rescue Over Virat Kohli's Batting Issues: 'You Cannot Say That..'
Photo : AP
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has said that if Virat Kohli's issue of nicking balls outside the off stump is a chronic one, one cannot say that he couldn't score runs because Gautam Gambhir didn't help him in dealing with it. He added that Kohli has had the same technical problems throughout his career and the coaches cannot be blamed for them.
Kohli scored an unbeaten 100 in India's second innings of the first Test against Australia in Perth in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He managed just 90 runs in his other eight knocks and was dismissed to catches behind the stumps every time.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra questioned whether Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar were right to seek accountability from Gambhir and his team for Kohli's long-standing issues.
"Sunny bhai (Sunil Gavaskar) and Sanjay bhai (Manjrekar) both said that Virat Kohli's issues outside the off-stump are chronic problems. They said it should be solved and asked what Abhishek Nayar and Gautam Gambhir were doing as part of the coaching staff," Chopra said.
"When you have used the word chronic or you are seeing a problem that doesn't exist only today in isolation, which was probably there earlier, went missing for some time and has returned, can you blame the coaching department that has been there with this team for only the last six months," Chopra questioned.
The former Indian cricketer said that it wasn't Gambhir's mistake if an experienced batter isn't scoring runs. Chopra added that in such a situation, the India head coach should be the sole person credited for ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah's success.
"If it's a chronic problem like someone stays committed on the front foot or someone's reflexes are getting slower, it wouldn't have happened in six months. So if you have to point your guns and fire, you have to look towards the last coaching staff as well, which no one is talking about," Chopra said.
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