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File photo of Virat Kohli© AFP
Though it’s the first Ashes Test between England and Australia in Edgbaston, it’s Virat Kohli who became a big talking point among experts Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara. After the end of Day 4, the two former cricketers sat down for a chat where they started to discuss that it was the first time that the England batter was stumped in his Test career. As the host pointed that this year was also the first time that Virat Kohli was dismissed via stumping, the Sangakkara and Pietersen couldn’t hold themselves back from hailing the Indian batter.
“He [Virat Kohli] is a wonderful player of spin, and you sort of understand it because they play spin off the back foot and have such beautiful wrists. You hardly ever see Virat running down, charging, and going all guns blazing, and he certainly doesn’t sweep, reverse sweep. I mean, you can watch him bat. Mentally, you can see him batting there, so you can sort of understand that,” Pietersen said on Sky Sports.
Sangakkara also joined the chat and highlighted how the Indian Premier League has played a role in shaping the way modern batters play their shots.
“He [Kohli] is also a kind of IPL mode, isn’t it? A lot of these players are very happy step-hitting from the crease. So, they don’t allow bowlers to bowl on a length, so the old art of having to use your feet against spin is gone, or they don’t do it anymore. You drop down and work a single. No, just stay in the crease and hit it out of the park. That’s true,” said that legendary wicket-keeper batter.
As for Kohli, he is enjoying a rare period of break after India’s defeat at the ICC World Test Championship final to Australia. Kohli would look to bounce back as India tour West Indies next month.
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