The country is still in awe of India’s historic win at the home of cricket on Monday. The Indian team, who were pushed to the backfoot by the visitors before Day 5, made a stellar comeback on the penultimate day. India ultimately beat England by 151 runs to go up 1-0 in the five-match series. However, amidst India’s terrific display, there are still concerns looming over Virat Kohli’s form. Meanwhile, the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar gave his opinion on Kohli’s poor run in Tests off late.
In the last five innings played on English soil, the Indian skipper managed the scores of 44, 13, 0, 42, and 20. Moreover, Kohli has an average of around 25 in Tests from 2020 onwards. All the fans are also aware of the fact that he hasn’t scored an international century since 2019. Due to his lack of form and inconsistency of the middle order, India haven’t crossed 400 in test cricket since 2019. Also, the pressure of openers and lower middle order has substantially increased due to their constant failures.
It is the mind that leads to technical errors: Sachin Tendulkar on Kohli
The little master, also known as God of cricket had his say over Kohli’s dry spell. In a conversation with news agency PTI, the batting legend said form is just a state of mind along with the body working in harmony.
“Virat hasn’t had a great start. It is the mind that leads to technical errors and if the start isn’t good, you start thinking about a lot of things. Because anxiety levels are high, you tend to over compensate for your movements.”
“When a batsman isn’t in good form you either go too far across or don’t move your feet at all. That happens to everyone. Form is also your state of mind along with the body working in harmony,” Sachin said.
Sachin praises Pujara and Rahane
Another two most dependable Indian batsmen who have been inconsistent for India off late are Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. Pujara hasn’t scored a 50+ score since the first test against England in Chennai. On the other hand, Rahane’s performances have been hot and cold. One big score per series has been his pattern lately. Both the players average around 25 in tests since the last two years.
However, both Rahane and Pujara played a crucial role in India’s revival in the Lord’s test. When India was reeling, both the batsmen stitched a 100 run stand. Hence, they got India out of hot waters.Their partnership was appreciated by Sachin as it kept India in the race.
“They played a very crucial role considering that we were effectively 28 for 3 when they came together. Two more quick wickets and we would have been 60 for 5 and dynamics would have been completely different. They stabilised the innings,” Sachin said.
“The idea was to do what was good for the team and they did that. While doing so, the rest of the things get taken care of. In a tight situation like this, ideally you would want all your batsmen to chip in but that is always not possible,” he added.