‘Everybody is afraid of Virat Kohli. That's why Dravid will be missed': Gambhir told to play Nitish Kumar Reddy at No.4

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali accused the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management of being afraid of under-fire batter Virat Kohli as he told the head coach to consider dropping the former India captain down the order in an audacious move for the fifth and final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which will begin later this week at the Sydney Cricket Ground. India's Virat Kohli leaves the field after being dismissed on day five of the fourth cricket Test match between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground(AFP)

Kohli, like India captain Rohit Sharma, has had a woeful run in Test cricket this year. After a lean patch in the home series against New Zealand in November, the 36-year-old had bounced back to score a century in the second innings in Perth. Although it sparked hopes of a comeback in potentially his final tour of Australia, Kohli returned with scores of 7, 11, 3, 36 and 5 in the next five innings across three Tests.

'Tell Kohli to bat at No. 5...'

Criticising Kohli's struggle against the deliveries outside the off stump, to which he has been dismissed six of the seven times in the ongoing series, Basit felt Gambhir should reshuffle the batting line-up for the final Test in Sydney. He suggested Kohli to bat at No. 5 for India, while promoting in-form Nitish Kumar Reddy, who notched up his maiden international ton in the Melbourne Test last week, albeit in a losing cause, to bat at No. 4.

"Now is the team to bring Nitish up at No. 4 and Virat Kohli at No. 5 because he is not able to score at No. 4. He's getting out on the same shot," said Basit.

“Perform nahi ho raha toh apna number toh neeche karo na. Rohit upar neeche kar raha hai, Virat ka koi nahi soch raha, kyunki darte hain na sab (if you are not able to score then drop lower down the order; Rohit is doing that but nobody thinking about Virat because everybody's afraid),” he added.

The veteran Pakistan cricketer concluded saying that the task of shifting Kohli down the order could have been easier had Rahul Dravid remained the coach.

"Mera khayal hai Dravid ki yaad aayegi (I think former coach Rahul Dravid will be missed)," he said.,

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