Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara praise Virat Kohli’s art of tackling spin

On Day 5 of the first Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England, Australia beat England by two wickets. This gave Australia a 1-0 lead in the 2023 Ashes. The Player of the Match was Australian starter Usman Khawaja, who scored 141 and 65 runs in the first and second innings, respectively. During the first Ashes Test, Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara talked a lot about Virat Kohli, who used to be the leader of India.

Two former cricket greats discussed the batter’s first stumping in a Test match after play ended on Day 4. Notably, Kohli had only been caught once before in his Test history. During the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the 34-year-old was out when Alex Carey got rid of him with a ball from Todd Murphy.

Kevin Pietersen said that Kohli is a great spin bowler, which makes sense since spin bowlers bowl from their back foot.

Kohli, says the 42-year-old, is rarely seen running down, charging, and going all guns blazing, and he does not sweep or reverse sweep.

Virat Kohli is a great spin bowler, which makes sense since spin bowlers bowl off the back foot and have such beautiful arms. You don’t see Virat running, charging, and going all out very often, and he doesn’t sweep or reverse sweep. So, you can see him hit. “In your mind, you can see him batting there, so you can sort of understand that,” Pietersen told Sky Sports.

Sangakkara claimed that the Indian Premier League (IPL) influenced Kohli’s success. Kohli is also a kind of IPL mode. The famous wicketkeeper-batsman said that many players like to step back from the line, which makes it hard for bowlers to bowl on a length. The 45-year-old added that this means that the old technique of using your feet to stop spin is either gone or not done anymore.

“He [Kohli] is also like IPL mode, right? A lot of these players are happy to hit from the line with a step-hit. So, bowlers aren’t allowed to bowl on a length, so the old technique of using your feet to stop spin is either gone or not done anymore. You move to the bottom and work a single. No, just stay in the box and hit it out of the park. That’s true,” said Sangakkara.