When Indian skipper Virat Kohli again became a victim of English pace bowler James Anderson for just seven runs in the first innings of Leeds est, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar said he should seek guidance from Sachin Tendulkar and draw inspiration from maestro's performance against Australia in the Sydney Test in 2004 to return to form.
None other than Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Shamra has supported these views and said it is not bad if Virat takes Gavaskar's guidance to return to form. Kohli is out of form and has aggregated only 69 runs in four innings of three Tests, failing to get even a half-century. In fact in his last 50 international innings, he has failed to score a century. His last century came way back in 2019 against Bangladesh.
While talking exclusively to Lokmat Times Sharma who had also served as coach of Delhi's senior team said, “ It is not bad if Virat seeks guidance from the great cricketer like Sachin Tendulkar. He has lot of experience in international cricket and Virat always gives him lot of respect. Sachin is his idol. It is also good if Virat takes guidance from Sunil Gavaskar also. It is always good if senior players come forward to help the cricketers in sorting out their problems”, he said.
Sharma is confident that his disciple will bounce back soon. “ Virat has great records in all three formats of the game that no other Indian batsman has. Every cricketer faces a lean patch in his career. He is one of the great players and I am confident that a big hundred will soon come from him.”
Virat is known for his on-field aggression. According to Sharma this aggression had delivered some positive results to India in past few years. “Virat's onfield aggression has helped the Indian team in a bigger way. At one stage the team was No.1 in all formats of the game. Take the example of last Test match at Lord's. I think Virat's aggression has played an important role in the victory.”
Virat has always been supportive of his fast bowlers. That is the reason why the Indian pace bowlers are dominating Test cricket at present. Asked about it Sharma said, “ Earlier the performances of our batsmen used to be discussed but now the scenario is such that our bowlers particularly pacers have become centre of attraction. They are delivering good performances. They have become more aggressive and their attitude has changed. The credit of it goes to Virat, ” said the coach and signed off.