In his column for the Hindustan Times, Manjrekar wrote that Virat Kohli, just like the 2014 series, is currently grappling with his issue outside the off-stump.

The former middle-order batsman has reckoned that Virat is likely to be troubled throughout the series if he doesn’t resist his urge to poke at balls outside off-stump.

Manjrekar wrote:

Manjrekar added that that Kohli must resist the urge to get onto the front foot in order to make life difficult for the bowlers.

According to Manjrekar, the Indian skipper’s front-foot play is making him ‘graft’ more, which has led to ‘average bowlers’ making his life miserable.

He further explained:

Virat Kohli endured a nightmare during the 2014 England tour where he kept nicking balls outside off-stump.

The Indian captain showed great discipline during the return tour in 2018 as he consistently resisted the urge to fish at balls at 4th or 5th stump.

However, the ongoing English summer has seen him chase balls outside the off-stump and, as a result, he has nicked off in each of his 5 innings thus far.

‘He overestimated his batting’ - Sanjay Manjrekar on Virat Kohli’s decision to bat first at Headingley

Indian captain Virat Kohli’s decision to bat first after winning a rare toss in the Leeds Test proved to be a disaster as the tourists were bundled out for 78 in less than two sessions.

Alluding to Joe Root’s comments at the toss where the England captain had said that he wasn’t sure what he would have done had he won the toss, stating that the pitch was ‘tacky’, Manjrekar reckoned that Virat perhaps ‘overestimated’ his batting-unit.

According to Manjrekar, Virat’s decision may have been motivated by the performance of the batting-unit in the first couple of Tests. But, as he pointed out, India’s batting did alright at Trent Bridge and Lord’s because the opening duo of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul provided solid starts.

And once Rahul nicked off in the first over of the Test match, India’s middle-order was again exposed, eventually leading to a 78 all-out.

He further added that a slightly more ‘pragmatic’ person would have decided to bowl first given the fact that batting is still the weaker suit while also pointing to the fact that the Leed track doesn’t get worse on the fourth and fifth days.

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