Virat Kohli’s poor run with the bat has continued in India’s tour of England with the former captain failing to leave a mark in India’s defeat in the Edgbaston Test. He may still redeem himself though in the white-ball leg of the tour, but for that, he will have to rectify his tendency of trying to play the ball early, feels Sunil Gavaskar.

Kohli’s ploy of trying to negate swing by meeting the ball early has backfired. Gavaskar believes that in English conditions, one has to play as late as possible.

“The trick to play in England is to play as late as possible. Then you are allowing the ball to do its bit and then you are playing the ball. From what little I saw in the highlights, it seemed Kohli was looking to reach for the ball, trying to play the ball early,” Gavaskar said on a television show.

Kohli made 11 and 20 in Edgbaston and last scored a Test hundred in November 2019.

Gavaskar pointed out that Kohli had enjoyed success in England in 2018 as he looked to play the ball very late.

“… he was not looking like he was in 2018 when he was looking to play it very late around the off-stump,” the legendary batsman said.

Gavaskar feels the reason behind Kohli’s new approach could be the dip in form and paucity of runs in recent years.

“This could possibly be his issue because he hasn’t been among the runs. When you are not in form, you look to play almost every ball, hit each one of them, in a bid to score runs. Maybe that’s something that can he look at.”

However, Gavaskar feels Kohli is also running low on luck.

“But the first mistake he is making is turning out to be his last mistake. Maybe he is not having the run of the luck at the moment.

“I think you obviously plan a little bit. Therefore, you can stay outside the crease, but you go with a pre-meditated plan of batting, which means the bowler has to bowl the same line you are expecting. If he doesn’t bowl in those lines, you are in trouble.”

For Gavaskar, irrespective of the amount and nature of preparation, cricket remains an instinctive game.

“Cricket is always about instinctive action. And while you are giving yourself just that extra bit of preparation by trying to understand the bowler’s strengths, at the end of the day, it’s an instinctive game,” he added.