During the virtual press conference before, the start of the third Test against England at Headingley, India captain Virat Kohli said that a batsman needs to keep their ego in their pockets to bat in England conditions. After Kohli was dismissed for 7 runs on Day 1 of the third Test, as he nicked a delivery off James Anderson a tad bit outside to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, former India cricketer Maninder Singh believes Kohli needs to practice what he preached. Speaking during a discussion on ESPNCricinfo, Maninder said that Kohli needs to understand that England pitches are not like Indian pitches, and he needs to spend time in the middle before going for a drive on balls pitched outside off stump.
“Before the Test match, Virat Kohli had said that in these English conditions you’ve got to keep your ego in your pocket. And I think that is absolutely right. If he tries to dominate, like Virat Kohli usually does, these are not the pitches where he can bat like that."He needs to spend some time there, like he did on the previous tour where he scored almost 600 runs. Once you know the pace and know how much the ball is seaming around, they you can carry on playing your shots," he said. “These are not flat Indian pitches, where you can just put your foot forward and start driving. And what Kohli preached, he will have to practice. Keep your ego in your pocket," Maninder added. Earlier, former, India captain Sunil Gavaskar said, “He should give a quick call to SRT (Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar) and ask what should I do?," said Gavaskar on air on Wednesday.“[He should] Do what Sachin Tendulkar did at Sydney. Say to himself that I am not going to play the cover drive," added Gavaskar.This is the seventh time in 23 Tests Anderson has scalped Kohli in Test match cricket. The England pacer has joined Australia spinner Nathan Lyon as the bowler to dismiss Kohli the most number of times in the longest format.The India skipper has aggregated only 69 in four innings of three Tests, failing to get even a half-century. The former India opener and captain, who was the first reach 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, said that Kohli chasing deliveries outside the off-stump is worrying. “That is a bit of a worry for me, because he is getting dismissed at the fifth, sixth and even seventh stump. In 2014, he was getting out more around the off-stump," added Gavaskar while pointing to the fact that he is being drawn into playing outside the off-stump.
