After suffering a humiliating defeat in the second test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Star batter Virat Kohli has been training hard in nets and working on his back-foot game as he gears up for the Brisbane test.
The conditions at Gabba favours pace and bounce for which the batter needs to have a strong back-foot game.
Harbhajan Singh who played a lot alongside Kohli, has highlighted that he has been a front-foot batter but is working on his back-foot game to tackle the bounce in the Gabba.
“Yes, whatever little I have seen him batting in the nets today. I have played a lot of cricket with him. He is a front foot player. Knowing the bounce on Indian soil, you have to be on your front foot.”
“The people who have played here, the likes of Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Langer, Hayden. They were good back foot players, because of the bounce.”
“It is the kind of bounce you get in Australia, you have to be good player of bounce. You need to have a good backfoot game. That’s what he was practising,” said Harbhajan Singh.
Team India trained in Adelaide on Tuesday morning before they jet off for Brisbane the next day. Harbhajan Singh is hoping for Virat Kohli’s comeback in the 3rd test after a rare failure at one of his attacking ground in Adelaide.
“Specifically I have noticed today. He was playig a lot of deliveries on the backfoot. He was going forward for the fuller ball but those balls which were slightly shorter than the length of full ball, he was either leaving or trying to play them.”
“The ball from the back foot, he knows that Gabba will be a different wicket where he will get to face a lot of bounce and pace and that back foot game needs to be included in his game.”
“Good to see him working on the game. I am sure, knowing Virat Kohli, we have seen him making a comeback after every setback,” he added.
With the series levelled with 1-1, India will be looking for a win in the third test starting on December 14 at The Gabba.
