Virat Kohli Adds New Shot To Armoury, Tests Reverse Sweep vs Ravichandran Ashwin. Watch | Cricket News

With the West Indies Test series only a week away, Indian cricketers have started their practice sessions in the Caribbean islands. The tour started with a game of beach volleyball in Barbados, but now, the players are putting hard yards in the nets. In a video that has surfaced on social media, Virat Kohli could be seen practicing against both seamers and spinners in the nets. In fact, when Kohli’s turn came to face Ravichandran Ashwin, the batting stalwart tried to execute a reverse sweep, a shot that he doesn’t commonly use.

Kohli isn’t known to experiment with modern-day shots, especially in the longest format of the game. Hence, seeing him trying a reverse sweep against Ashwin in the nets, quite a few fans were left surprised.

Virat Kohli playing reverse sweep against Ashwin. pic.twitter.com/WPzmuWDbnH

— Mahirat (@bleedmahirat7) July 5, 2023

In May this year, Virat had revealed that he isn’t keen to hit unorthodox shots in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as he had an important Test assignment — World Test Championship final against Australia — to follow.

“I’ve never been a guy who tries so many fancy shots, because we have to play 12 months of the year,” he said. “For me, it’s not [about] playing fancy shots and throwing my wicket away. We’ve got Test cricket after the IPL, so I’ve got to stay true to my technique and find ways to win games for my team, something that I take a lot of pride in, and when I can make an impact in an important game, obviously that gives me confidence, gives the team confidence, and it just helps the team overall, which is something that I look to do.”

However, the fact that he is practicing reverse sweeps in the nets, could mean a change in mindset has arrived, especially considering the way even the purest format of the game is evolving.