Learning from Rohit Sharma: Virat Kohli advised to ease up and focus on scoring efficiently

Anil Kumble, the former India Test captain and head coach, has advised Virat Kohli to not be too hard on himself in his quest for runs. Kohli, who struggled in India's ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 opener against Bangladesh in Dubai, was dismissed for just 22 runs by leg-spinner Rishad Hossain. Kumble believes that Kohli needs to relax and not put too much pressure on himself in order to find his form again.

Since the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Kohli has managed 137 runs in six innings. Kohli was slow to get off the blocks on Thursday in Dubai. He looked like a pale shadow of his old self, and his 22-run innings was cut short by the Bangladesh spinner.

Kumble feels Kohli is trying too hard to come out of his form slump and making it hard for himself.

"Having been through a lean patch, so to speak, especially in white-ball cricket - he hasn't had that kind of run for a long period of time - I feel he's trying a bit too hard," Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo Match Day.

"You have that in players who have been there and done that before, and everyone sort of looks up to you saying he's the guy who's going to take the game away, and he's the one guy who is the important man in the team," he added.

Kohli's last six dismissals against spin

In the last six ODIs that Kohli has played, all of them have come against spin. Out of these six, five have been against left-arm spinners.

Kumble also advised Kohli to learn from Rohit Sharma, who scored a quickfire 41 against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday.

"When you have that kind of pressure and you have that kind of expectation, you suddenly start putting undue importance to all of that and then try hard to do well. When you do that, you're not really relaxed. The best innings that I am sure he's played, he's not even thinking about all of that. The best bowling performances, you're not even thinking about all of that," said Kumble.

"I think he's trying a bit too hard. You can see that in the way he is going about his innings. He just needs to not worry about it. Rohit Sharma comes in there, has the freedom because there is plenty of batting and all of them are in great form. Similarly for Virat, he just needs to come in and not worry about anything else," he added.

Kumble feels Kohli is putting a lot more pressure on himself, and he needs to relax and do the basics right. The former India coach also feels that Kohli is trying too hard to score against spin, leading to his downfall.

"All players go through tough moments in their career, but I get a feeling watching him bat, I think he is putting a lot more pressure on himself. He just needs to relax a little bit and not worry too much about the outcome of what happens on the field rather than just go out there and have the freedom to just go and play naturally, what he does really well," said Kumble.

"He's a good player of spin when he's in form, when he's wanting to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike. Now he's trying too hard to score runs rather than just manoeuvre, and that's been his game plan," he added.

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