The Virat Kohli File: Dissecting the Fault in Our Star & How He Could Rectify It

A technical deep dive into what is troubling Virat Kohli – Understanding what's going wrong, and finding remedies.

All that you need to know about Virat Kohli's problems with outside edge dismissals and possible remedies.

(Photo: BCCI/Altered by The Quint)

"As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly."

Bible, Book of Proverbs, 26:11. Countless philosophers – Aristotle, George Santayana – have presented more diluted, less rasping variants of the proverb. The essence remained – to err is human, but to repeat the same? Foolish.

Virat Kohli is neither Christian, nor a philosopher. Not that one needs to be for a perfectly clear comprehension of the proverb, but more importantly, Virat Kohli is not a fool.

Quite the opposite, rather. He is a genius, a cricketer par excellence. With 27,324 runs, he is the fourth-highest run-scorer in international cricket. In all likelihood, he will climb two more places prior to his retirement from the sport. In addition, he is a two-time World Cup winner, and before he achieved all of it, he led an Indian U-19 team to global glory.

Considering what Kohli has already achieved, that, he will leave behind an untainted legacy, is undisputed.

But unblemished? Not quite.

The Heel of Virat Kohli’s Achilles Rendition

For the Achilles rendition that Virat Kohli has mastered – a heroic warrior, except that his Trojan War is the battle of runs and trophies – his ‘heel’ has been exposed. A crucial vulnerability had long been concealed by brilliance, but not anymore.

In the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy, Australia had only one plan against arguably among the more impregnable batters this sport has ever seen – bowl in the channel outside off-stump, aim for the invisible fifth-sixth-seventh stump line, and lure Kohli into offering his outside edge. Such was the confidence exuded by Pat Cummins’ bowlers that they did not hesitate to voice their strategy.  

All of Kohli’s eight dismissals, in a wretched series where he scored 190 runs at an average of 23.75, came off outside edges. Thrice the catch went to the wicket-keepers, twice each to first and second slip, and once to third slip. This marked Kohli’s worst average in an away BGT series.

Virat Kohli’s worst averages in an away BGT Series:

• 2024-25 – 23.75

• 2023 – 31.50

• 2011-22 – 37.50

• 2020-21 – 39.00

• 2018-19 – 40.29

• 2014-15 – 86.50

Recurring Theme, Plummeting Stocks

Had it not been a recurring theme, Kohli could have claimed clemency. Unfortunately, 31 of his last 38 dismissals in away Tests have come via outside edges flying to the slip cordon. In simpler terms, Kohli will find the same manner to fall prey eight out of ten times. That, coupled with his 2024 Test average of 8 against length or short of good length deliveries on the third and fourth stumps, per ESPNCricinfo, paints a grim picture.

Till 2019, Kohli’s yearly Test average never went south of 30, barring the year of his debut – 2011. In the last five years, however, his yearly average has been north of 30 only once.

Virat Kohli’s worst yearly Test averages (till 2024):

• 2020 – 19.33

• 2011 – 22.44

• 2024 – 24.53

• 2022 – 26.50

• 2021 – 28.21

In the COVID-to-post-COVID period, Kohli’s stocks in Test cricket have plummeted. In all of the following lists a batter would dearly like to eschew, India’s number four ranks fourth.

Kohli’s Plummeting Stocks – From 2020 to 2024

Least runs scored by batters whilst batting in top four (minimum 30 Tests):

• Najmul Hossain Shanto – 1654 runs in 30 matches

• Mominul Haque – 1698 runs in 31 matches

• Shubman Gill – 1860 runs in 31 matches

• Virat Kohli – 1919 runs in 37 matches

• Angelo Mathews – 2075 runs in 32 matches

Worst average by a batter whilst batting in top four (minimum 30 Tests):

• Najmul Hossain Shanto – 30.07

• Zak Crawley – 30.82

• Tom Latham – 33.04

• Virat Kohli – 33.08

• Kraigg Brathwaite – 33.64

Worst average by a batter in Australia & England whilst batting in top four (minimum 10 Tests):

• Kraigg Brathwaite – 28.60

• Rory Burns – 28.92

• Dom Sibley – 30.25

• Virat Kohli – 30.50

• Cheteshwar Pujara – 30.52

So, what is going wrong? How can a batter so inimitable, with so robust an armour, have a chink so glaringly fragile?

A Technical Analysis of Virat Kohli’s Flaws

Fault 1: Stance

A few factors are simultaneously at play in Kohli’s case, the amalgamation of which results in what we have seen in Australia recently, and elsewhere, over the course of his career.

A comprehensive scrutiny of Kohli’s technique exhibits two fundamental flaws – in his set-up, and in his trigger movement.

But firstly, for the initiated, what do we mean by ‘set-up’? A combination of three factors, namely:

• Stance – How the batter is standing at the crease, that is, the positioning of his body.

• Grip – How he is holding the bat.

• Backlift – The angle and height at which he holds the bat.

Kohli’s troubles stem from his stance. Not that there is any proven correct stance in a sport where both the pristinely orthodox Sachin Tendulkar and the bizarrely eccentric Shivnarine Chanderpaul can be successful.

However, each stance has its merits and demerits.

As opposed to the side-on stance, where a batter’s front foot and back foot are in the same vertical line, with shoulders pointing towards the stumps at the non-striker’s end, Kohli prefers the open stance. In this case, the front-foot moves a few inches to the batter’s left, opening his hips, and his shoulders point towards mid-on.

Having an open stance allows a batter to access anything that’s on the stumps with the full face of the bat, and given his unparalleled wrist agility, Kohli has always found it easy to deal with nearly everything that is on his pads.

It is not a surprise that most of Kohli’s runs in Test cricket have come in the midwicket-to-long-on region, per Sportstar’s data. It also facilitates the aggressive nature of modern-day batting.

The only drawback of the open stance, though, is with balls which are directed away from the stumps – exactly in the corridor that troubles Kohli. To get the triad of front shoulder, head and front foot inside the line of an outside-off delivery – all whilst ensuring judgment of where the off-stump is doesn’t get clouded – is a task Kohli has found challenging in recent years.

The Tweaks Post 2014 England Debacle

This is not the first instance of Kohli’s set-up flaw being exposed. In his first Test series in England, he could only score 134 runs at an average of 13.40, with James Anderson capitalising on his weakness without much toil or endeavour.

His next visit to England for a Test series came in 2018, and on this occasion, he scored 593 runs at an average of 59.30.

What changed?

Kohli himself had explained how an advice from Sachin Tendulkar helped him trump his weakness. The advice was to treat pacers like how he treats the spinners – by getting on top of the ball.

In order to achieve so, he widened his stance, came further down the popping crease, and took a long stride as a part of his back-and-across trigger mechanism. With timely transfer of the weight from the back-foot to the balls of his front-foot, Kohli had fewer issues in getting to the pitch of the delivery and playing his preferred shot.

So, why is it not working now, you might ask?

Consider his first dismissal in this BGT. A spicy Perth wicket, India are on the backfoot at 14/2, and the bounce is unreliable. Kohli, though, does not care much. He takes guard a few steps down the popping crease, confident of not being undone by either the bounce, or his judgment of the ball’s line.

Josh Hazlewood pitches a delivery short of length, generates sharp bounce, and Kohli throws his bat at it. It gets nicked, but we will come to that later. Firstly, why did he throw his bat a ball on the sixth stump line? Quite simple – inherent mindset. It is important to establish here that Kohli, being a front foot-press dominated player, was never too keen on exercising overwhelming caution against outside-off deliveries. Getting to the pitch and line of such deliveries might have seemed to be an aggressive approach, but it formed a part of his defensive mechanism. Even in that England tour where he scored 593 runs, Kohli survived four dropped catches off outside edges.

Throwing his bat at that particular Hazlewood delivery in Perth stemmed from years and years of mental and muscle programming. Re-programming would prove to be a herculean task.

Fault 2: Trigger Movement

Remember we had discussed Kohli’s flaw being two-fold?

Let’s tackle the second problem now – his trigger movement.

Following the established pattern, a definition of trigger movement for the uninitiated – the premeditated movement of foot and body, through which the batter readies himself to face the delivery prior to the ball’s release.

Kohli deploys a slightly modified version of the back-and-across trigger movement:

1. His back foot goes back towards the crease.

2. His front foot toe faces the umpire, with the ankle remaining in the air.

3. His front foot goes across the crease, completing the preparatory cycle of facing the outside-off delivery.

The issue, in this case, is with the first movement. Rather than moving back in a straight line, Kohli drags his back foot laterally. Subsequently, his front foot takes cue from the back foot’s positioning, and despite having a leg-stump guard, Kohli finds himself at the fourth stump even before the ball is released. By now, his understanding of his off-stump is blurry, and he is ought to be tempted to face deliveries in the fifth-sixth-seventh stump line.

Why Are the Problems Surfacing Now?

Kohli used to do all that we have mentioned, and yet looked effortless till a few years ago, right?

Correct. Except, it is very natural that with age, his reflexes are not getting any better. Neither is his hand-eye coordination, resulting in repeated failures to judge the line of the delivery. His weight transfer from back foot to front foot, which once happened at an expeditious pace, is now more laboured.

The primary step in any rectification procedure is acknowledgement of pre-existing fallacies, and it is time for Kohli to do so.

The Possible Remedies

That brings us to possible remedies.

We began our deep dive with his stance, so that remains a plausible remedy. By adopting a more side-on stance, Kohli might find his on-side strengths diminishing a tad, but with the bowlers’ solitary focus being on his outside-off channel, he is likely to have a better command over that zone.

Changing stance at his age of 36 might – despite the warrior that Kohli is – might prove to be burdensome. He could, hence, change his trigger. Instead of dragging his back foot laterally, he could simply have his first trigger in a straight line, which would result in avoiding ending up at the fourth stump after the completion of his front foot trigger. This would ensure a better understanding of where his off-stump is.

Asking Kohli to leave anything that is to his right, as Sunil Gavaskar has done, is justifiable, albeit it will require mental re-wiring, and a complete overhaul of his defensive mechanism.

Lastly, he could inculcate Kane Williamson’s and Joe Root’s style of dealing with the corridor of uncertainty. The pair’s predominant strokes against such deliveries are in the region of third and point – a zone where Kohli has scored merely 16% of his Test runs, the least in terms of any quadrant of the ground. More cuts, more late cuts, more back-foot loading, and hence, no problem of timely weight transfer on the front foot.

All of these suggestions would require a return to the drawing board, and starting afresh at an age many cricketers choose to hang their boots. Especially those who don’t have much else to achieve.

But forget achievements, Kohli might have a point to prove. The hunger of proving critics wrong could trump obstacles aplenty. And there is no dearth of hunger in Kohli (more on this in Part 2).

If anyone can, he can. He is, after all, Virat Kohli.