Shah Faisal
 |
| Ecstatic Anderson celebrates wicket of dejected Virat Kohli |
Anderson's dismissal
of Virat Kohli in first innings at Nottingham
summed up the toxic 21 months that Kohil had gone through in a free fall
manner. His artfulness and consistency accompanied by overweening desire, to
score big and impact the game, had made him to adopt advance and peculiar
methods of preparation. Amongst these is his firmness and commitment to shots.
Kohil is a strong believer of committing to the shots that one decides to play.
He is not the one who would check his shot at last second or play two shots to
one ball. When he decide to drive he drives, if a ball should be defended he
defends.
This is the constituent of
what the coaches call clarity of mind. Sangakkara is one who often advocates
such approach. Clear mind allows you to concentrate on one particular moment,
that resultantly gives you the space to indulge in that single moment and execute
in near absolute manner. The result of
such an approach is player like Kohli : a player who gained prominence in no
time and attained a status that is shared between Sachin Tendulkar, Lara, Sobers and a few
others.
Ironically, such clarity of mind and firm
commitment can fireback if your days are not good enough, I mean days when one would
face bowlers like Hazelwood, Anderson, Southee and a few other who are as artful
and accurate with ball as Kohli is with bat. Commitment to shots and
playing balls according to merit becomes theoretical and thus batsmen are
suspected and their design of shot is presumed by bowlers who then would devise
a plan to trap the batsman. Kohli, unfortunately, is succumbing
to such presumptuous plans.
Currently,
fast bowlers are following some theories against Kohli, and to their luck the
plans are a success. Some bowlers, like Stokes, would try to drag him
onto off stump and then bowl straight on pads delivery which would result
in LBW. Kyle Jamison also applied this theory in recent WTC finals and
reaped its result.
Another theory is; off stump channel.
First try to dry up Kohli by not giving him runs and then bowl a length delivery outside off, Kohli will try to
score of that and thus the bowler would have a chance to nick him. In his
last 4 dismissals, in Australia and England, Kohli has got out three times
by nicking to keeper, two of which followed length delivery tactics.
The last and third one is not a theory but a
subtle problem known as Anderson. James Anderson is a theory in himself against
Kohli. He has got the better of him many
times and has kept him at his heels even, at times, when Kohli successfully
survived against him. Andersen bowls on off stump channel against Kohli. He
keeps the same plan against him even in India and had produced an edge to gully
that went through fielder's hand. In England on 2018 tour the same plan brought
two edges of Kohli that went uncaught by fielders at slips.
The reason why Anderson is bowling with single plan against him is the knowledge of Kohli’s mental clarity and commitment to his shots. He knows how Kohli desires to respond to certain deliveries and thus he webs his charm around that which often results in Kohli's failure. The ball that extracted golden ducked from Kohli was not a simple delivery which Kohli played wrongly. It was a ball bowled after deep contemplation and then executed with mathematical accuracy. Kohli was deceived by Anderson's wrest position and then conjured by the ball that threatened to come in but went away after pitching. Anderson marathon run in the field was not just the ecstasy of getting his great nemesis out, but, in fact it was the joy of disbelief that Kohli has edged the ball to keeper. If there was any batsman who would have left that was Kohli, he too fell ignorant to seasonal craft of Anderson. Any other batsman on earth would have got out to that ball, it was laced with treachery and demanded an out.
Kohli is too firm. Should he get a bit tentative?
What should
Kohli do to counter it? What is he thinking about the turning of tables? A
great batsman, like him seldom, stays silent for so long. He must have plans
and he will execute them. To us it appears that Kohli must at least become a
bit complex and indecisive in his commitments to shots. He has become too
visible and follow same patterns that are manipulated by bowlers against
him. Some false shots or apparent indecision can help him a lot. If he
starts leaving what he often chases, and decides to counter- wit the bowlers by
not coming to off stump in search of runs he will eventually outwit them, and
will dictate them in bowling to him as he wishes them to bowl. A strategy that
was applied by Sachin against Allan Donald in which he compelled Donald to bowl
at his legs which Sachin would flick for
fours on leg side.
Time is
hard on Kohli, he cannot get more worse than his last dismissal against
Anderson. He is a champion and there will be time when he would prove all of us
wrong. That time is intensely awaited…
🔟🔟🔟
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