Kohli working on the sweep shot ahead of Sri Lankan tour

Virat usually doesn’t play the sweep shot

Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli has been working on the sweep shot with his childhood coach ahead of the Sri Lankan tour, reports TOI. The prolific right-hander doesn’t usually play the sweep shot against the spinners, but has understood the significance of having it up his armoury considering India will be playing a lot of Test Cricket now in the sub-continent.

"His batting is technically very clean but he never played the sweep shot," Rajkumar Sharma told TOI, "But now he is making a conscious effort to sweep and he feels he needs to master that as it will help him dominate the spinners even better." During the Australian tour last year, he was seen playing it often against Nathan Lyon which was unusual.

He was also not very comfortable playing the shot against the off-spinner and he has realised that it would be even more difficult to play it on surfaces that will be assisting spin. "He came here to practice for a few days and asked for dry and rough pitches. He batted for nearly two hours every day against spinners and practised the sweep," the coach further said.

But he also further revealed that the 26-year-old is yet to master it completely. "He hasn't developed it completely. He will be very cautious playing the shot, if at all he decides to play it."

He got bowled by Shakib Al-Hasan while trying to play the sweep in his last ODI against Bangladesh. He has been going through a rough patch off late and hasn’t scored big in the unofficial Test against Australia A as well.