There are few sights on a cricket field that pleases the eye as much as a king Kohli’s cover drive. It is a trademark shot of the best modern day batsman of world cricket. If the 2000s is all about the Sachin’s straight drive, then the 2010s is about the Kohli’s cover drive. Although one can say that batting is something that came naturally to Virat Kohli, the art of mastering came after years of toil in the nets.
Kohli at it again!
A Virat Kohli innings is incomplete without a trademark cover drive. The cover drive came in the 27th over of the Indian innings in the 1st ODI against New Zealand when Hamish Bennett bowled to him. It was a nice big stride forward and towards the line of the ball. The ball hit the middle of the bat and was sent racing to the cover boundary. It was a pleasure to watch for ardent fans of the game. Talking about the shot on air was Akash Chopra and Harbhajan Singh.
Chopra revealed the secret behind Virat’s cover drive.
Speaking about the shot Akash Chopra admired the beauty of the shot as usual but didn’t stick on to just describing it. He went on to give an interesting insight of how Sachin Tendulkar had helped Virat Kohli master the cover drive. Virat had a torrid time in England in 2014 against the moving ball and Sachin had provided solutions to counter it. He suggested Kohli to take a big stride towards the ball while playing the shot. This helped him cover the line of the ball and enabled him to play close to the body rather than leaving the bat hanging outside the line of body. Also the point of contact was right under the eyes that helped in mastering the placement of the shot.
India had set a target of 348 runs for the Kiwis in the 1st ODI with Iyer scoring a masterly century.