Virat Kohli bats during play on day three of the third Test. (AP/PTI Photo)

Dangle the carrot outside off-stump, Virat Kohli will go for it and end up nicking to either the wicketkeeper or the extended slip cordon. There will be days when he will play and miss but more often than not, the ball ends up finding the edge of the bat.
For many, the channel outside off remains that ‘corridor of uncertainty’ but it has now become a certainty when the bowlers stand on top of their run up. A certainty that he will go after it. A certainty he will rarely shoulder arms. A certainty that he will look to plant the front foot and look for that drive through the covers region.
Scorecard: India vs Australia, 3rd Test
The shutterbugs lock their focus for the perfect shot but the frame off late has belonged to the bowler. Kohli has found different ways to react – look of disbelief, a wry smile, shake of the head – to similar modes of dismissals but he has failed to do anything differently to avoid those, and Monday was no different.

First delivery he faced, Starc did what everyone expected him to do and even Kohli responded like everyone expected him to. Full delivery outside the off-stump and the right-hander went chasing. Luckily, for him, he didn’t get bat to ball but the luck was about to run out very soon. Starc dished out a surprise bouncer in the seventh over and Kohli’s awkward position to fend it off was nowhere close to an ideal frame.
Starc had set him up and Josh Hazlewood, from the other end, was ready with the carrot his new-ball partner had perfectly polished. A wild chase of a delivery well outside off ended his knock and with the head down, he took the long walk back to the change room as Australia celebrated this dismissal.

There weren’t any wild high-fives or hugs and the body language suggested it’s become all too easy for them, and other oppositions, to see the right-hander’s back these days.
Just in 2024 alone, 12 out of Kohli’s 15 dismissals in Tests have been to deliveries outside the off-stump. Six out of those 12 dismissals happened when he was looking to play deliveries off the front foot and majority were in that newfound corridor of certainty for the bowlers. A shot which has given him a lot of success during his career spanning over 15 years has been a major contributor to his failures.
Whether it’s muscle memory, ego, defiance or even arrogance, he is still not ready to let it go.
Even he must know the carrot will be dangled, even he must know it’s a high-risk shot now but doubt if someone has told him to let it go. Even if some one hasn’t, all he has to do is watch the highlights of Sachin Tendulkar‘s 241-run epic at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2004. If time doesn’t permit, even a quick look at the wagon wheel should be enough to remind him the importance of letting go!
Kohli has faced many battles in his cricket journey but this one will be the toughest. More than any technical flaw, it’s a battle he has to fight with his mind to let go of something which has given him, and cricket lovers, immense joy. That cover drive!