When it comes to playing cover drives and shots on the off, very few come close to Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas. The man was dubbed “Asian Bradman” not for nothing. The bespectacled artist was a delight at the crease - a craft that made him the only Asian to have hit 100 first-class centuries.
Abbas appreciated talent like very few. He can judge the talent of a batter in the blink of an eye. Having watched Virat Kohli with delight over the years, Abbas too has been saddened at Kohli’s lack of form in the year just gone by.
Virat is a great player and there is no doubt in it. I have watched him with delight and found him a very capable batter in all formats of the game, but his recent struggles in the whites are concerning.
Zaheer blamed white-ball cricket as the problem for Kohli’s recent failures.
I see he (Virat) is getting out in the same manner. You feed him outside off and he edges behind the wicket. This shot – pushing at the ball pitches outside the off is developed in ODIs and T20 cricket and modern-day players play a lot of white-ball cricket.
The 36-year-old, known for his batting skills across formats, has been afflicted by poor run of form despite scoring an unbeaten hundred in the second innings of the Perth Test. But his other scores are 5, 7, 11, 3, 36 and 5 -- all dismissals behind the wicket on balls pitched on the fourth and fifth stumps.
Australian pitches have more bounce than ours, so when you push at the ball which has more bounce you get caught in the slips or gully or by the wicketkeeper and most of the time Kohli is getting out like that
He knows that the ball is outside the off stump but in search of runs, like you do in ODIs and T20Is, he pushes and gets out. On the subcontinent pitches these strokes work because there is less bounce and pace on the ball is slow.
Abbas was special in England. In only his second Test, he smashed 274 at Edgbaston in 1971 and had an encore with 240 at The Oval in 1974. That earned him the tag of Asian Bradman by the English media.
He was a phenomenal player at the county level, regarded as a Lord in the Gloucestershire county for which he amassed runs in abundance, 2544 in 1976 and another 2305 in 1981. He holds the record of scoring 200 and 100 in a first-class match on four occasions -- all unbeaten. He had a special liking for Indian bowling, smashing them for 583 runs in three Tests in 1978-79 at home -- then a series record. His 100th century in first-class also came against the arch-rivals, a 215 in Lahore in the 1982-83 series.
But he also had lean patches.
I used to do a lot of batting practice to regain my form. Once I gained confidence I used to hit a middle-stump ball through the covers.
So what does Kohli need to do? Abbas reckons the best thing is to practice.
Kohli would be better off playing more on the back-foot. Someone who plays the ball late is always regarded as a great batter, so play late. When you play at the back foot you watch the ball till the last second. As we say practice makes you perfect he needs to do a lot of batting in the nets. He must be doing that but tell the bowlers to feed him outside the off stump so that he can adapt.
I am surprised there is no one to explain to him. If a player gets out in the same manner it means no one is explaining to him.
Asked if Kohli should retire from the longer format, Abbas said:
It is up to the player to decide. Virat is an intelligent player so he can decide on his own. But if there is a home Test, an easier opponent then he can smash a hundred and come in form.
