Rohit Sharma needs to work on his fitness; Virat Kohli knows what to do: Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu. (Source – Getty Images)

Batting against Australia in Australia used to be a strong suit for former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli. However, he was far from his best the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he could register only 190 runs in nine innings, of which 100 came in just one innings as he scored a century in India’s second innings in Perth.

Cricketer-turned-commentator Navjot Sidhu, was confident that Kohli would end up finding form and will forge a solution for his issues.

“Someone who has scored 80 centuries, and has close to 10,000 runs (Virat Kohli), no one needs to tell him anything. He will go home, watch the videos, and he will understand that his bat is playing away from the body. He will come up with a solution too. Kohli thrives on challenges, and this phase is just another obstacle he will overcome,” Sidhu was quoted as saying by India Today. 

It was quite clear ahead of the series that Kohli’s batting performances would be essential for India to compete against a high-quality Australian side. Although Kohli was able to muster only five in his first innings of the series, he made a remarkable turnaround in the second innings. Coming in to bat with India in a comfortable position, Kohli’s proactive innings was the key for the visitors to assert added pressure on the Aussies.   

He looked quite comfortable at the crease and ticked over the strike with relative ease. He ultimately ended his century drought in the longest format by getting to the milestone in fine fashion. After getting to his first Test ton after 14 innings, a lot was expected from Kohli going forward.

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However, the former Indian skipper endured a torrid time thereafter. Bowlers started bowling to his weakness and Kohli’s series became progressively worse over time. The constant urge to nick deliveries well outside the off-stump channel became a common phenomenon which was leveraged effectively by the hosts.    

Meanwhile, Sidhu also opened up on the comparisons between Kohli and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma: “Comparing Rohit and Virat in terms of technique is very odious. He just has to work on his body fitness. He is a fantastic player, he is pure gold… How much have I met Rohit Sharma? Maybe 20 minutes on the ground during IPL. Today he wasn’t able to play well against Australia, but in the T20 World Cup, it was Rohit Sharma who hit Mitchell Starc for 3 sixes. Has everyone forgotten that? He is human after all. The more he practices, he will get better and better,” he said.