Former Team India head coach Greg Chappell has recalled an incident with Sachin Tendulkar and has made a prediction for Virat Kohli's fate in the 2023 World Cup, keeping in mind the past events. Chappell feels Kohli must keep things simple to score runs and that he needs to go in feeling mentally fresh.
Kohli will undoubtedly have a significant role to play in the upcoming edition of the World Cup as the Men in Blue hope to end their ICC title drought. The 34-year-old failed to make it count in the last two editions, especially in the knockout games, as India finished in the semi-final of the tournament.
Speaking on the show Backstage with Boria, the former Aussie batter recalled Sachin Tendulkar asking him how the run-scoring doesn't get easy as time goes on.
"He is a champion player and the big matches will be the ones he will be aiming for. He wants to perform well in every tournament he plays. It was interesting...soon after I started coaching for India, I was in my room in the hotel when the phone rang and it was Sachin. He asked whether he can come and talk to me. He then came down and the question he asked was, 'Why does batting get more difficult? It should surely get easier'. I said, ‘Not really.’”
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Chappell explained by saying that oppositions and players get better idea of the batters as the years go by; hence, it takes plenty of adjustment.
"When you are younger and you are playing the game, you see the ball and hit the ball. You only think about scoring runs then and not anything else. As one gets older, the oppositions tends to know more about the player and then they know how to bowl better and what fields to set. Then you also realise how hard it is to perform at that level constantly and how much mental hard work it requires to score each run."
"Virat is at that stage of his career" - Greg Chappell
Chappell identified that Kohli is in the same stage of his career and that he needs some mental fortitude to be amongst the runs. The 75-year-old added:
"I have no doubt that Virat is in that stage of his career and hence it requires a special effort to score runs. And for that you need to decompress yourself and just keep it simple. Virat also needs to go into these games mentally fresh and he knows what he needs to do for that. If Virat can achieve that, he will have a very good tournament."
Team India will open their 2023 World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8th in Chennai.
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