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Sunil Gavaskar Wants Virat Kohli To Learn From Sachin’s Iconic Knock At Sydney

Sachin's remarkable innings at Sydney

Virat Kohli has hit a phase that resembles one of Tendulkar’s darkest days in cricket history. It was in 2003 when India played out a remarkable Test series with Australia away from home and could have scripted a remarkable victory but was denied not once but twice, first by rain and secondly by Steve Waugh.

However, that series had multiple spectrums that enlivened it to the hype surrounding it when it came to remembering. Like the way Dravid’s double-century became a beacon of excellence, similarly, Sourav Ganguly 144 at Gabba was another reckoning milestone of the series.

Agarkar’s six-fer at Adelaide helped India set themselves for the remarkable victory, while Pathan’s ball of the century that claimed Gilchrist was the talk of the town.

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With all the cricketers slowly getting into the groove, if there was one man who missed the party until the very end was India’s Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar. He was removed for naught at Brisbane in the first Test, trying to play across the line and Gillespie’s delivery rattled straight through.

At Adelaide, trying to drive Bichel through the covers, he nicked it to Gilly in the first innings while the second innings saw him getting dismissed trying to play a sweep against MacGill.

The third Test at Melbourne saw Sachin getting out in a similar fashion after he nicked Brett Lee to the keeper in an attempt to play the drive. Sadly for him, it was a golden duck.

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In the second innings, he did manage to get the start but couldn’t contain his fervor and in a miscued shot once again holed out to Adam Gilchrist off Brad Williams. Fans were shaken about Tendulkar’s consistent dismissal in a similar fashion. The man was a genius and was known for his brilliance. However, his vulnerability on the corridor of uncertainty was too glaring for the Indian fans to digest.

That is when the impossible happened. In the fourth Test at Sydney, he simply forgot that there was an option of cover drive in his sleeves. He didn’t poke anything that was in the lines of the fourth or the fifth stump on the offside. He kept on batting and the Australian bowler couldn’t dismiss him as the magician conjured a Herculean knock of 241 from 436 balls.

Being a batsman, it is exceptionally hard to resist playing the cover drives when the ball is in the slot. However, there are times when you need to adjust yourself to play that decisive stroke because at the other end of it lies the nightmares of being caught, especially in Test cricket, given the fact that there is always protection in the form of the slip cordon. Sachin Tendulkar made it possible.

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Here is the lesson that Virat Kohli must learn from Tendulkar

Virat Kohli is in the middle of one such nightmare, where he has been dismissed in a similar fashion by the English bowlers. One of the biggest weapons in his arsenal of the cover drive has resulted in him getting dismissed for cheap.

Yesterday’s dismissal of Kohli was once again a similar situation where he simply had no idea of what was unfolding around him and in the process played with a straight bat at a delivery that had slight movement and was on the line of the fourth stump. Fans aren’t happy about Kohli’s dismissal in the same way for a while now.

Sunil Gavaskar spoke up in the commentary box, voicing his opinion about how Kohli needs to learn from the best. He quoted, “He (Kohli) should give a quick call to SRT and ask, ‘What should I do?’ He should do what Sachin Tendulkar did at Sydney. Say to himself that I am not going to play the cover drive.”

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