Virat Kohli has got a ‘very obvious weakness’: Sanjay Manjrekar

New Delhi: Indian captain Virat Kohli has been struggling in the current tour of England. His latest dismissal in the ongoing third Test at Headingley has resulted in a former Indian batsman pointing to an “obvious weakness” in Kohli unlike many other greats of the game.

On the first day of the third Test in Leeds on Wednesday (August 25), Kohli was again dismissed by paceman James Anderson. This time the Indian skipper went back to the pavilion for just 7 runs after winning the toss and deciding to bat first. India was bowled out for 78 and in reply England ended Day 1 at 120/0.

So far in the series, Kohli has managed just 69 runs from 4 innings. In the previous tour to England in 2018, he had amassed 593 runs with 2 hundreds in 5 Tests. This was after he had a horrendous run in 2014 where he had scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20 in 5 Tests, for an average of 13.50 in 10 innings (total of 134 runs).

"Unlike so many greats of his league, he (Kohli) has got a very obvious weakness. All the greats, the Tendulkars, the Gavaskars and the Viv Richards, didn't have one obvious weakness. Every time that gets exploited, Virat Kohli gets found out," former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said on Sony Sports TV.

"It's not that he is getting out in different ways like Ajinkya Rahane does. I am sure it's starting to bother him,” he added.

Further, he stated, "The reason he got those runs in 2018 was not because he was cover-driving beautifully or pulling it superbly like he was in Australia against Mitchell Johnson. It was all about leaving the ball, which was about doing something he was not accustomed to. It requires a lot of mental effort.

"I am just starting to feel that maybe the mental reserves that he has is he as fresh mentally as he was in 2018 with that big challenge of seeing James Anderson through and leaving balls after balls? He is not leaving as many balls this time."

India holds a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series against England.