Gavaskar suggests Kohli "to keep things simple"

Virat Kohli's reputation as an all-format batsman extraordinary has taken a severe beating in the last couple of years, with the Indian skipper averaging just 24.68 in 11 Tests since January 2020. There were few good knocks, like the Adelaide 74 or Chennai half-century, but his tentativeness has cost him big-time on seaming pitches. Ollie Robinson and James Anderson have exploited that trait completely as the Indian skipper found runs hard to come by in the first three Tests so far. 

Sunil Gavaskar suggested the Indian skipper not to make a lot of changes to his batting, for he believes his technique is solid to sustain the difficult spells but he advised to keep things simple. 

"I think it's the shot selection. You have got to keep it simple. He has got 8000 runs, probably the last 6,500 runs he has got standing outside the crease. So I don't think he needs to make too many changes. I think it's just the shot selection,” Gavaskar said during the post-match show on Saturday.

"At the moment, we talk about intent. There is an 'intent' question against Pujara. Here it seems the intent is to get runs. It means there are deliveries you're playing when you should be leaving those. So it's basically again a question of shot selection. You don't have to play at those deliveries. If you leave those deliveries, it's not going to matter.”

Gavaskar further suggested that Kohli was attempting to poke at the fifth and sixth stump line, which he should have been left alone, and that created some problem.

“You still had a day to go and you were 140 runs behind the England team. If you have a look, these are deliveries on the 4th stump, there are no complaints. But there are deliveries at the 5th, 6th stump. These are deliveries he should not be playing.

"See how far from the body the bat is, that is what is getting him into trouble. He is reaching out. So it's hard hands stuff that is getting into trouble. I don't think standing outside the crease is a worry. If you play closer to your body, you play and miss it. There is no harm in playing and missing it."