AB De Villiers Offers Key Advice to his Out of Form Mate Virat Kohli
The recent performance of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli remains a topic of discussion. Kohli's mediocre performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-2025 proved to be a big loss for the Indian team, due to which the team could not save the trophy. In the fifth and final Test played in Sydney, Australia defeated India by 6 wickets and won the series 3–1.
South African great batsman AB de Villiers has given special advice to Kohli to get out of this poor form. De Villiers said that Kohli will have to pay attention to the balls bowled outside the off-stump of the bowlers, because of this weakness, he is getting out again and again.
Consistently poor performance in the series
Kohli scored 190 runs in five matches of the series at an average of just 23.75. The balls going outside the off stump got him into trouble every time. Even in the Sydney Test, he got out in the same way. Their frustration was palpable.
De Villiers said, "Every batsman has some weakness. Kohli has the skill and experience. They just need to reset their mindset for every ball. It is most important to keep the mind clear during the game. ”
Advice to increase focus and avoid controversies
De Villiers advised Kohli that he should focus more on the game and avoid engaging with the opposition players. Kohli was fined 20% of his match fee after he was involved in a shoulder collision with Australia's Sam Constas in the Melbourne Test.
De Villiers said, "Virat Kohli likes to fight on the field, but when the form is bad, these things should be avoided. Think of each ball as an event and focus on the next ball. This is the most important thing to get back to form. ”
Statistics tell the story
In the last 20 Test innings, Kohli has scored just 434 runs, with an average of 24.11. If you remove the century in Perth, the average drops to 17.57. In these innings, Kohli scored 46, 12, 6, 17, 47, 29*, 0, 70, 1, 17, 4, 1, 5, 100*, 7, 11, 3, 36, 5, and 17.
De Villiers' advice can prove to be important for Kohli in the journey ahead, but it remains to be seen how much he can benefit from it.