Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at Virat Kohli for dismissal in BGT 2024-25 3rd Test

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Virat Kohli after his dismissal in the ongoing third Test of the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. Kohli was dismissed by Australia’s veteran pacer Josh Hazlewood when he was chasing a seventh-eighth stump line delivery.

The former Indian captain has been troubled with the off-stump line and it has been his Achilles Heel in the last five years. Gavaskar observed that Kohli got good deliveries earlier in the series but he played a bad shot on Monday.

Barring scoring a hundred in the second innings at Perth, Kohli has looked at sea in the ongoing Test series. The talisman has returned with scores of 5, 7, 11, and 3 in the remaining four innings.

Speaking on Channel 7, “If it was on the fourth stump I could understand. This was wide, on the seventh, eighth stump, you could say. There’s no need to play that. He’d be very, very disappointed, he’d be very upset with that.”

“Even before Rishabh Pant faced a ball, the rain started to come down and the covers have come on. If Kohli had shown a bit of patience he could be not out with KL Rahul,” he added.

Gavaskar urged Kohli to show Sachin Tendulkar-type patience and not play the cover drive. Tendulkar had scored a majestic 241 runs against Australia at Sydney when he decided to avoid playing any shot in the cover region.

“He must be patient like Sachin’s 241 in Sydney—no off-side shots, not even cover drives. With his strong bottom hand, focus on straight or mid-wicket plays. Discipline is key,” he added.

Australia posted 445 runs on the board but India were found struggling at 51-4, still in arrears by 394 runs at stumps on day three.