Virat Kohli vs Graham Gooch

[BazBall21]

honestly, assuming it's not a very hot summer and English pitches remain like they were against West Indies and Sri Lanka, I can see Chris Woakes and Sam Cook (if he ever plays a test) destroying Kohli, he looked completely helpless, even in his 2018 series was entirely dependent on the same cover drives he plays today and leaving the good balls, he can't play those drives with same efficiency as his speed is gone and he just can't leave balls these days as he doesn't seem eager to spend too much time at the crease.

I don't think people always realise as well that his range would be very cut off if he became properly disciplined outside off, especially as bowling teams now are well aware of his weaknesses. He's no Tendulkar.

 

[Johan]

Not opening is a reasonable point in this comparison. And to Gordon. Tbh, I'm becoming a bigger believer in the severity of opening tax in general, especially outside the subcontinent of course.

Yeah, I generally give openers who open against dukes a rating boost, or even if you open in South Africa or New Zealand (albeit, less so than England and South Africa), and nowadays even Australia a rating boost, at the end of the day you're facing the pacers at their freshest with the new ball, so I don't really differentiate much between say Cook and Younis, or Gordon and Sheev.

 

[Johan]

I don't think people always realise as well that his range would be very cut off if he became properly disciplined outside off, especially as bowling teams now are well aware of his weaknesses. He's no Tendulkar.

definitely, limited range of scoring, plus I don't think he is able to tell where the ball seams and turns these days, so a offsite pitch thats cuts to the stumps and he'd be screwed up so is more or less forced to play those awkward defenses.

 

[BazBall21]

Yeah, I generally give openers who open against dukes a rating boost, or even if you open in South Africa or New Zealand (albeit, less so than England and South Africa), and nowadays even Australia a rating boost, at the end of the day you're facing the pacers at their freshest with the new ball, so I don't really differentiate much between say Cook and Younis, or Gordon and Sheev.

Makes a difference in WI too usually.

 

[Coronis]

Virat also had a pretty decent 2023 (lol I'm not saying current Kohli is better, just tryna say that Gooch was an average batter for most of his career; and Kohli's 2016-2019 version was way better than any version of Gooch)

Btw will Kohli play beyond the ENG series? That'd be cool. We could have both of them average the same (Gooch could even go higher, who knows?)

Better question - will Kohli play beyond the BGT? Should retire from tests and just play short formats. Become India’s de Kock.

 

[Johan]

Makes a difference in WI too usually.

Definitely, aids swing + some of the pitches were extremely fast back in the day so bowlers at 100% would be more destructive.

 

[Johan]

Better question - will Kohli play beyond the BGT? Should retire from tests and just play short formats. Become India’s de Kock.

the fact he played in Sydney and didn't "opt to rest" I reckon that's a clean give away.

 

[BazBall21]

Definitely, aids swing + some of the pitches were extremely fast back in the day so bowlers at 100% would be more destructive.

Uneven bounce aplenty in Gooch and Gordon's day.

 

[Johan]

Uneven bounce aplenty in Gooch and Gordon's day.

Yeah, I reckon the tracks were definitely created to favour their pace battery a bit, no where near as much and as bad as India but still