As the Australian tour went on, Virat Kohli’s dismissal started to become identical as he would flap at a delivery outside the off-stump around the fourth-fifth stump channel to edge it behind the stumps. However, it was not often he had these issues Down Under, but in English conditions, where he had issues regarding that line. Former England cricketer Monty Panesar speculated that it might be the reason why Kohli is not working out the solutions might be the probable cause of his retirement from the format.
“With Kohli, what has happened is that against the ball outside the off stump, the fifth stump line, especially in Australia on fast bouncy pitches, he was struggling,” Panesar said, speaking to PTI. “So he probably thought maybe the fact that in England it is going to swing a lot more, he’ll probably hasn’t worked out solutions in that corridor of uncertainty.”
“And I think that’s probably been one of the reasons why he thought to retire and put all his energy with RCB and ODI cricket for India,” Panesar observed. “I think he’s done very well as a cricketer in all formats. He has been a brilliant ambassador for Test cricket. He probably feels that he’s done his best, he’s achieved everything and probably feels like it’s time for the youngsters to step up,” he added.
Regardless of his issues, technically, Kohli managed to have a brilliant tour to England in 2018. “It would be a lot tougher for Kohli to repeat the same performances of 2018. Just a simple fact that he’s been struggling over the last 12 to 18 months with that ball outside off stump. He hasn’t got a solution for that, you know the problem that he has on the fourth and fifth stump. “So he’s thinking it’s better for Indian cricket to give youngsters a go and hopefully find the next superstar,” concluded Panesar.