‘Keep your ego in your pocket’: This ex-India legend slams skipper Virat Kohli after Leed's debacle

Team India captain Virat KOhli had said before the start of the third Test against England at Headingley that pitches in England are toughest to bat and the batsman need to keep his ego in the pocket and give full respect to the conditions. But India failed to read the condition well at Headingley and the whole team was shot out for just 78 runs in the first innings. 

Kohli scored only 7 runs and returned to the pavilion after he attempted an expansive drive off the outside the off-stump delivery off England pace spearhead James Anderson. Kohli has scored only 69 runs in four innings so far in the ongoing series.

Former India cricketer Maninder Singh has hit out at Kohli and said that the India skipper must walk the talk and keep his ego in the pocket. Maninder said that Kohli, 32, must spend some time in the middle before attempting his shots. “Before the Test match, Virat Kohli had said that in these English conditions you’ve got to keep your ego in your pocket. And I think that is absolutely right. If he tries to dominate, like Virat Kohli usually does, these are not the pitches where he can bat like that. He needs to spend some time there, like he did on the previous tour where he scored almost 600 runs. Once you know the pace and know how much the ball is seaming around, they you can carry on playing your shots. These are not flat Indian pitches, where you can just put your foot forward and start driving. And what Kohli preached, he will have to practice. Keep your ego in your pocket,” Maninder said while speaking to a leading cricket portal.

“Virat Kohli is basically making the same mistakes that he was making on his first tour of England. He is playing away from the body. It could happen to you if you are not playing regular cricket. He got out a couple of times the same way as you did in 2014, when he just got a 138 runs in 10 innings. I think things start coming back – am I playing the wrong line? Should I be leaving these balls? All these Indian boys, in the first two Tests, they were leaving balls outside the off stump. I don’t know that happened in this Test match. They were wanting to play at it and paid the price for it. With Virat Kohli, he is going through a bad patch,” he added.