Gavaskar hints at Rohit and Kohli's selection process in response to criticism that seniors haven't made contribution

In a recent analysis, former batsman Sunil Gavaskar delved into Virat Kohli's struggles with deliveries outside the off-stump during the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy. Despite high expectations, the Indian captain has failed to make a significant impact in the Test series against Australia, with only one score of over 50 so far. While Kohli did manage to score a century in the first Test at Perth, his performance in the Boxing Day Test was less impressive, as he was dismissed twice by playing shots at deliveries outside the off-stump.

The Indian batting maestro scored 36 and 5 at MCG as India suffered a crushing 184-run defeat and is now lagging behind in the World Test Championship final race. His persistent vulnerability outside the off-stump – frequently edging deliveries to the slip cordon or wicketkeeper – proved to be his undoing, especially during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This technical flaw, which has plagued him for the past four years, has now become a major concern for Team India.

Gavaskar pointed out what is going wrong with Kohli and provided a potential solution to his outside off-stump woes.

“The (Kohli’s) foot is not going to the pitch of the ball, the foot is going straight down the pitch, not towards the ball. If the foot goes more towards the ball, you have more chances of hitting the ball from the middle,” Gavaskar told India Today.

“Because the foot is not moving, you end up reaching for the ball, and that is what has been happening,” he observed.

The batting great slammed the Indian top order for repeated failures in the series and blamed them, apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, for trailing the series 1-2 after the fourth Test.

“It all depends on the selectors. The contributions that were expected have not come. It is the top-order which has to contribute, if the top-order is not contributing, why blame the lower-order," he added.

‘Seniors have not really made the contribution’: Gavaskar

Gavaskar further said that the senior batters like Kohli and Rohit Sharma had a job to bat out on Day 5 at MCG and keep the series alive for SCG Test but they faltered miserably on Monday.

“The seniors have not really made the contribution that they should have, all that they had to do was bat out today and live to fight another day in Sydney,” Gavaskar said.

“…it’s just that the top-order didn’t contribute and that is the reason India found itself in this position," he added.

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