How a Donald Bradman trait could be the secret to bringing down Indian talisman Virat Kohli
The question on every Australian bowler’s lips is this: how do you get Virat Kohli out? Sir Donald Bradman never saw the Indian superstar bat, but could still have unearthed the secret to dismissing him.
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It’s a long time since Don Bradman was at the Adelaide Oval but a car park quip he dropped to Greg Chappell is proving ageless.
Especially when you are trying to undermine the game’s greatest batsman, Virat Kohli.
Chappell and Bradman had a chance meeting in the Adelaide Oval car park not long before Bradman’s death when Chappell asked the master who or what style of bowling troubled him most.
“No particular bowler,’’ said Bradman.
“But full pitched deliveries were the ones that troubled me most.’’
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Full pitched deliveries did not stop Bradman from averaging 99.94 but they did occasionally get through his illustrious gate.
Bradman was bowled a strikingly high one in three (32.9 per cent) of his Test innings.
Many top batsmen are less than half this figure with Chappell, back at the Adelaide nets on Tuesday in his role as national selector, a standard 15 per cent.
Which brings us to Kohli and the never-ending quest of rival teams to find a hole through a technique which at times flows like a flag in the breeze while, at other times, is as formidable as a bank vault door.
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A recent article by CricViz analyst Ben Jones dissected Kohli’s game to the nth degree and the findings would have drawn an approving nod from The Don.
The article claimed that Kohli is most vulnerable to the full pitched ball which is seaming in to him.
CricViz claimed Kohli averages 46.28 against full pitched balls compared to 66.33 against good length balls and 69.33 to the short variety.
For all of his greatness, Australia has occasionally felt Kohli can feel the need to assert himself early and this desire can make him flash at full, wide deliveries.
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If Australia does go full at Kohli they run the risk of going for runs with drives and flicks off the pads.
But it’s worth a try.
Certainly there will be no complaints from Chappell who, after his car park chat with Bradman, did his own statistical research to learn that 75% of dismissals are due to full balls.
Any ball that can get through The Don is surely worth a shot against lesser mortals.
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Originally published as How a Donald Bradman trait could be the secret to bringing down Indian talisman Virat Kohli
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