Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar feels that Virat Kohli should change his approach against Nathan Lyon in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Kohli has been struggling against the spinners in recent times and Lyon is expected to bring a tough challenge in the four-match Test series starting from February 9.
The Indian batting maverick has returned to form in white-ball cricket but his recent red-ball numbers don’t justify his talent and calibre. Since 2020, Kohli has scored 879 runs in 18 Test matches at an average of 28.35 without any century.
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Bangar pointed out Kohli doesn’t step out much against the spinners in Test and also has some reservations while playing sweep shots which needs to change this time against Lyon.
“Virat Kohli does not do two things due to which he faces a lot of difficulties against Nathan Lyon. One, he does not believe much in stepping out, he plays more from the crease and then he does not play the sweep as well,” Bangar said on Star Sports.
Kohli has changed his approach a bit in white-ball cricket in recent times and Bangar said that he should replicate the same in Tests also to counter-attack spinners and put pressure on them.
“So where will he score runs against Nathan Lyon? So he will have to change his approach slightly. We have already seen in this season that he has used his feet slightly more, although he might have done it in the shorter format. He will have to do that,” he added.
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Bangar also suggested him a way to tackle Lyon by shifting his off-stump guard a bit which might force the Aussie spinner to change his regular plan.
“He will have to move a little towards an off-stump guard, so that he is able to cover the line better and he should not allow Nathan Lyon to bowl too many deliveries. He will have to take a slightly aggressive approach, then only you can threaten him slightly,” he said.
Talking about Lyon’s bowling, Bangar emphasised that he doesn’t have many variations but he very well knows how to exploit the rough patch.
“Nathan Lyon excels mainly on Day 2 and Day 3, maybe there are very few exceptions to that, but once Mitchell Starc bowls a lot of spells, then there is a rough created outside the right-handed batters’ off-stump. He is somebody who doesn’t have too many variations but he looks to exploit that spot,” Bangar said.
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