Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers has a golden piece of advice for India’s Virat Kohli to tackle weakness outside off stump. De Villiers also feels that Kohli needs to focus more on his batting rather than trying to get engaged with the opposition players.
Virat Kohli has disappointing returns in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy where he averaged less than 25 in the five Test series. He was constantly tested outside his off stump by the relentless Australian bowling attack.
Kohli’s mode of dismissals didn’t change as the series went along. In his last dismissal of the series in Sydney, he was visibly frustrated and even yelled at himself for going for a ball outside off stump once again.
“Reset your mind” – AB de Villiers’ advice to Virat Kohli
While speaking in the show 360 live on his X (formerly Twitter) account, AB de Villiers answered a few questions from his fans. During this show, he was asked about Virat Kohli’s weakness outside off stump and how the India star can overcome it.
De Villiers backed Virat Kohli to overcome the weakness by resetting the mind for every ball. According to him, Kohli has the skills and the experience to tackle this situation and he just needs to concentrate and reset his mind every time he plays the next ball.
“Of course, he can. Every single batter in the world has got some sort of weakness. It takes a lot of character, a lot of hunger, lot of hours in the nets. I think the thing is to reset your mind, every time,” De Villiers said.
“The skill, experience and greatness of the guy are not an issue. It’s about the refocus after every single ball. Maybe sometimes he gets too involved,” he added.
Australia have won the #BGT to book a spot in the #WTCFinal against my Proteas. Hop on to today’s #360Live and let’s talk about what went wrong for India and what else is on in the world of cricket… https://t.co/OydSB92xZE
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) January 5, 2025
AB de Villiers advises Virat Kohli not to get involved in altercations
The legendary South African batter further advised Virat Kohli not to get involved in any altercations in this phase and rather concentrate on his game. According to him, the individual battles are not allowing the Indian great to concentrate on his own game.
“I think with Virat (Kohli), he gets involved with the battle on the field. That’s one of his biggest strengths and it can also be a weakness. During this series, we saw him have individual battles with some of the players, the crowd got under his skin,” De Villiers noted.
“Virat loves the fight, but when you’re not in the form of your life, it’s best to get rid of those things. As a batter, it is to reset every single time and realize every ball is an event and just forget about the bowler,” he reckoned.
Virat Kohli’s tough series in BGT 2024-25
Virat Kohli scored 190 runs in five Tests at an average of 23.75 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. He scored a hundred in the first Test at Perth but his numbers faded away from the second Test onwards.
Kohli was also involved in various altercations with the Australian players and the crowd. In the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, he was found in a shoulder collision with Australia’s debutant Sam Konstas which even led to a heated argument between the two of them.
As a result, Kohli was fined 20 percent of his match fees and also received one demerit point. The veteran was even booed on several occasions by the Australian crowd till the last Test match in Sydney.