Afghanistan head coach doesn't take Virat Kohli's name even once but makes point about India legend's weakness clear

3 months ago | 25 Views

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott didn't take Virat Kohli's name even once but he made his point about the India legend quite clear ahead of the T20 World Cup Super Eight stage encounter in Barbados. Kohli hasn't quite been able to replicate his IPL 2024 form - he was the Orange Cap winner for scoring 741 runs for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru - in this World Cup so far. Given a new role of opening the batting, Kohli registered scores of 1, 4 and 0 in the group stage matches against Ireland, Pakistan and the USA.

In all those matches, Kohli was out caught, failing to tackle deliveries wide of the of the stump. Against Ireland, he got a thick outside that flew to the thirdman fielder. In the next match against Pakistan, he failed to control a wide fuller length delivery and scooped it straight to the point fielder. The dreaded angled across delivery from a left-arm seamer (Saurabh Netravalkar) brought about his downfall against the USA.

Deliveries outside the off stump have always troubled Kohli. It's no secret. Afghanistan can exploit that pretty well. After all, they have the tournament's leading wicket-taker, Fazhalhaq Farooqi, also a left-arm seamer, in their ranks. It is a no-brainer that they would want to target Kohli in the channel with the new ball.

Afghanistan coach highlights Kohli's weakness without taking his name even once

But when asked about plans against Kohli and his modes of dismissal in the World Cup, Trott bypasses that in the most brilliant way possible.

"As an opposition, the fact that Virat hasn't got too many runs in this particular tournament, does that make your planning any better? Are you still going by the reputation of the batsman the fact that he's been so consistent over the years or by his current form in this particular tournament does that planning make any difference to the number of runs about one of scored in the opposition team," a reporter asked Trott in the pre-match press conference.

In his answer, Trott did not take Kohli's name even once even though the question was about the former India skipper.

"We always look at the last couple of innings and see how they go and if there's any trends and those sorts of things when planning for opposition. So yeah, but obviously there's a history of the player as well that you take into account and past experiences of playing against him. So, everything's taken into account, not just the recent form. But yes, obviously you do notice things if it hasn't been in any form and you look to find ways where you can sort of use that information or exploit that and hopefully continue that sort of form," said the former England batter.