“Everyone got out that way” - Former India keeper downplays Virat Kohli’s ‘outside off stump’ woes in BGT 2024-25

Former Team India keeper-batter Deep Dasgupta has defended Virat Kohli over criticism coming his way following a poor performance in the Test series against Australia. Dasgupta observed that the right-hander was not the only one to get out nicking balls outside off-stump in the series.

The 36-year-old's weakness outside off-stump was laid bare during the five-Test series Down Under. Averaging 23.25 in eight innings with 190 runs, he managed only 190 runs alongside a solitary hundred. The former skipper got out on all eight occasions by nicking balls behind the stumps.

The former cricketer said on India Today that it's not a technical problem and that the right-hander was trying to overcome the issue the best way he could.

"It's not a technical problem, I think. It’s not that he wasn’t trying—he was trying quite a bit. Throughout the series, across all five Test matches, he tried different things. We keep talking about ‘outside off-stump, outside off-stump.’ But the fact of the matter is, everyone gets out ‘outside off-stump.’

"Look at all the dismissals, except for the Perth Test where it was a bit different. In the last four Tests, 80 per cent of the dismissals were caught in the slips. Everyone got out that way."

The Delhi-born cricketer also had his worst tour of Australia since he visited for the 2011-12 series. He scored 300, 682, and 282 runs in the previous three series Down Under.

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"If you reflect on it, it was a kind of perfect storm for Virat Kohli" - Deep Dasgupta

Virat Kohli. (Image Credits: Getty)

The 47-year-old also opined that out of all Kohli's dismissals, three or four were near-perfect deliveries where credit deserves to the bowler. Dasgupta added:

"People are talking about 8 out of 10 dismissals. Among those, there were four or five deliveries that were genuinely very good—you have to give credit to the bowlers. There may have been three or four where he could have left the ball, ones he went chasing in the fifth or sixth stump line. If you reflect on it, it was a kind of perfect storm for Virat Kohli."

The veteran's next international assignment is likely to be the ODI series against England. Jos Buttler and Co. will start their tour of India with the T20I series.