De Villiers asks struggling Virat Kohli to avoid on-filed battles

AB de Villiers. Pic/AFP

Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) batsman AB de Villiers has advised Team India great Virat Kohli to reset his mind and avoid on-field battles as he ended his underwhelming run on the Australia tour.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were out of form throughout the series. The 1-3 Test series defeat against Australia also led Team India to miss out on their qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

Virat Kohli was only able to garner 190 runs in his nine BGT innings as was seen getting out by edging the ball at the slips or wicketkeeper.

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"I think the thing is to reset your mind every time. Virat loves the fight, but when you're not in the form of your life, it's best to get rid of those things. As a batter, it is to reset every single and understand every ball is an event and just forget about the bowler," de Villiers said in a video he posted on 'X'. "I think sometimes Virat forgets about that because of his fighting spirit and the nature of the man wanting to be involved and show the whole of India he is there to fight for them," the South African batting legend added.

"The skill, experience and greatness of the guy (Kohli) are not an issue. It's sometimes about the refocus after every single ball. Maybe sometimes he gets involved too much." Australia beat India by six wickets in the fifth and final Test at the SCG to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Following the hundred in the series opener, Kohli's troubles outside the off-stump compounded as he was caught in the slip cordon eight times over the course of five Tests.

The concluded Test series against Australia could be probably the last for Virat Kohli in the Oz conditions.

"I think with Virat, he gets involved with the battle on the field. That's one of his biggest strengths and it can also be a weakness. During this series, we saw him have individual battles with some of the players, the crowd got under his skin," AB de Villiers said.

"Every single batter in the world has some sort of weakness or some dismissals that keep coming up. Of course, Virat can overcome his problem and come back to form. "It takes a lot of character, a lot of hunger, lot of hours in the nets. I think the thing is to reset your mind, every time," the South African urged Virat Kohli.

(With PTI Inputs)