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After a
disastrous England tour in 2014 India captain took some advice from Sachin
and Ravi Shastri to overcome his shortcomings as a batsman
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New Delhi(Agencies): The
lesson of “forward press against fast bowlers” from Sachin Tendulkar and a tip
from head coach Ravi Shastri to stand outside the crease led to his
transformation as a prolific Test batsman after a disastrous England tour in
2014, feels India captain Virat Kohli.
Kohli had a nightmare of an
England tour where he failed in 10 successive innings but came back later in
the year against Australia scoring four tons in four games, including two in
Adelaide.
In a chat with Mayank Agarwal
for bcci.tv, the Indian skipper decoded his technical changes post that England
tour.
"The 2014 (tour) will be
a milestone in my career. Lot of people take good tours as a milestone in their
careers but for me 2014 will be a milestone," Kohli told Agarwal in the
show ‘Open Nets with Mayank’.
"I came back from England
and spoke to Sachin Paaji and had a few sessions with him in Mumbai. I told him
that I am working on my hip position. He made me realise the importance of big
stride, a forward press against fast bowlers," Kohli explained.
"The moment I started
doing that with my hip alignment, things started falling in place nicely and
then the Australia tour happened," said Kohli.
He explained what went wrong
in England and how he realised it.
"My hip position was an
issue during that England tour. It was basically not adjusting to the
conditions and doing what I wanted to do. So being rigid doesn't take you
anywhere. It was a long and painful realisation but I realised it," he
said.
The opening of hip limited his
shot making ability, Kohli realised.
"One thing stood out,
right hip opens or closes too much you know you are in trouble. Keep that hip
position nice and side-on and balanced so that you can play through both off
side and leg side with equal control is very important," he said.
Anderson was taking him out
mainly with outgoing deliveries.
"I was too worried
thinking about the ball that might come in. I was opening up a bit too early so
the ball that was going away I was getting out to it every time. I just
couldn't get past that confusion," he admitted.
However with the tweak in
technique also came a tweak in his stance, which was suggested by Shastri (team
director in 2014-15) just before the start of 2014-15 Australia tour and the
rest is history.
"He (Shastri) told me one
thing, to stand outside the crease. He explained the mind-set behind it. 'You
should be in control of the space you are playing in and not giving
opportunities to the bowler to get you out'."
Shastri also explained the
logic that by standing outside the crease, so many dismissals get taken out.
"So I started practising
that same year and results were unbelievable."
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