IND VS ENG | Virat Kohli should call Sachin Tendulkar and ask what has to be done, suggests Sunil Gavaskar

After India captain Virat Kohli was again dismissed cheaply by James Anderson in the first innings of the third Test at Headingley, batting great Sunil Gavaskar has reckoned that the skipper should contact Sachin Tendulkar and find a way to sort out the problems that he has been facing in England. Notably, Kohli was earlier dismissed for a golden duck by Anderson, during the first Test in Nottingham.

After a successful second Test at Lord’s, the India team was dismissed for a paltry total of 78 runs, as the entire batting line-up failed on Wednesday. The India skipper was dismissed by James Anderson, after scoring just 7 runs off 17 balls. This was the 7th time Kohli was dismissed by Anderson in Tests. Following the lackluster performance, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar asserted that Kohli should seek help from his role model Tendulkar. 

“He should give a quick call to SRT (Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar) and ask what should I do?" said Gavaskar during commentary on Day 1 of the third Test.

During the 11th over of the match, Kohli was lured into playing a cover drive by Anderson, only to get an outside edge to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.  The skipper’s difficulty to play deliveries pitched outside the off stump, during this series is highly reminiscent of the 2014 tour against England, where he wasn’t able to score a single half-century and was dismissed by Anderson on several occasions.

“That is a bit of a worry for me, because he is getting dismissed at the fifth, sixth and even seventh stump. In 2014, he was getting out more around the off-stump," said Gavaskar while pointing to the fact that Kohli was lured to play outside the off-stump.

Gavaskar asserted that Kohli should take inspiration from the methods that Tendulkar used during the Sydney Test in 2003-04. Tendulkar, who was tempted to drive or play outside the off-stump decided against playing any cover drive during his marathon innings. This plan worked in his favor and he ended up scoring a whopping 241*.

“[He should] Do what Sachin Tendulkar did at Sydney. Say to himself that I am not going to play the cover drive," asserted Gavaskar.

England ended Day 1 on a high as England openers Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns scored 60 and 52 unbeaten runs respectively, leading to the team’s first 100 run partnership of the series. England were at 120/0, leading India by 42 runs.