Tue Dec 17 12:12:33 UTC 2024: ## Kohli’s Australia Struggle: Pujara Blames Top Order Collapse
**Sydney, Australia** – Virat Kohli’s disappointing performance in the recent Australia series, culminating in scores of 5, 100*, 7, 11, and 3, has sparked debate amongst cricketing experts. While some, like Sunil Gavaskar, emphasized Kohli’s need for greater patience against deliveries outside off-stump, former teammate Cheteshwar Pujara offered a different perspective.
Pujara, highlighting Kohli’s exceptional Perth century, attributed the batting star’s struggles to the Indian top order’s consistent failures. This forced Kohli to face the new ball repeatedly, a situation Pujara argues is detrimental to his batting style. “His technique isn’t suited for the new ball,” Pujara stated to Star Sports. “His batting should come after 10, 15, or 20 overs. When he faces the new ball, the bowlers are fresh and confident, and getting early wickets energizes the entire team. It makes batting significantly harder.”
Despite never opening in Test matches, Kohli has faced the new ball on several occasions in ODIs (seven times) and T20Is (17 times) throughout his career. However, his overall record in Australia remains impressive, boasting 1,478 runs in 16 matches, including seven centuries. His most recent ton came in the first Test in Perth. The focus now shifts to analyzing the team’s top-order batting strategy to better support Kohli’s strengths in future series.
First Piper 