Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that he was excited to see Virat Kohli trying something different against Pakistan in the group stage of Asia Cup 2022. The former India captain has made his comeback into the team after a short mental health break as he missed West Indies and Zimbabwe tours. The batting maverick scored 35 runs off 34 balls against Pakistan, but he looked a bit rusty at the start of the innings.
He scored three fours and six during his stay in the middle but lost his wicket after playing a loose shot and got caught at long-off by Iftikhar Ahmed on Mohammad Nawaz’s delivery.
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The former India batter talked about the change in Kohli’s batting approach as he pointed his scoring shots against Pakistan.
“A couple of things that I saw which I liked and something that I have not seen him do much before. If you remember he played three pulls in that innings. There was one hook that went for six, but there were a couple of pull shots that he played and those are the things that I look for you know as an analyst,” Manjrekar said on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’.
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Manjrekar further analysed that Kohli has started exploring the backfoot play on his comeback game which is a positive sign for him to back in form.
“This is what excites me whether he’s trying to do anything different. Just getting a little bit technical, before the ball was delivered. On two occasions, he actually had a trigger movement where he went back in the crease, which meant that I think finally somebody’s got to him where he is now exploring the back foot play a little more,” he added.
The 57-year-old further said that having back foot aggression along with front foot adds more depth in batting for every batter.
“I saw that happen in England, but still mostly onto the front foot. There was a catch dropped again on the front foot reaching for the ball. So, if he starts mixing back foot aggression, I’m not saying back foot defence. Back foot aggression along with front foot aggression, life might just get better, and those signs were seen in that innings against Pakistan,” Manjrekar said.
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