Narrower stance reaps Kohli rich returns

A lot is being said about the Indian batsmen's mindset when approaching milestones, which is a direct consequence of the results in this series. Whether they slow down to ensure they reach the hundred or whether it is a team plan to bat through because the middle order is shaky is a question only the batsmen can answer, but amid the results and loud debates, the flexibility of India's batsmen should not go unappreciated.

In the middle of the Test series against South Africa, Ajinkya Rahane cut short his back lift to make sure the bat speed slowed down when it came to meet balls on turning surfaces. Virat Kohli, the Test captain, also began to make a crucial adjustment during the series, results that can be seen in his back-foot attacking shots in Australia. He has narrowed his stance a touch to use the space behind him, the crease, and more. Earlier, during the ODIs, bowlers could bowl wide outside off and short of a length to quieten Kohli, but this adjustment could send them back to the drawing board again.

After Kohli had failed to the seaming deliveries in England in 2014, he began to stand outside the crease and widened his stance a lot. A big indicator was the bat coming down between his feet when he prepared to face as opposed to the more traditional patting behind the back foot. India's coach back then, Duncan Fletcher, was a big fan of wider stances because that allowed the players his favourite "forward press".

In both his books, Fletcher has spoken about the forward press to get into position early if possible and make a shorter movement when the ball arrives. "[Traditional methods] would also mean making a decision about where the ball is going to pitch almost as the same time as the ball is leaving the bowler's hand," Fletcher wrote in Ashes Regained. "And if you do that, you do not know if the ball is going to swing. But if you press, then you only have a small final movement to make to get to the pitch of the ball. So you can make your final decision much later."

The foundation of the forward press is a wider stance. "One of my major philosophies about batting is that the more movement you make, the greater the chance of error content," Fletcher wrote. "I favour a reasonably wide stance for a batsman, so that his press and then final movement don't have to be too large."

Fletcher went on to give the example of Herschelle Gibbs, and how the commentators on England's 1999-2000 tour to South Africa were impressed with his front-foot play and wanted the England batsmen to play similarly. What they didn't realise, Fletcher said, was that Gibbs had a wide stance and half of his movement happened because of the forward press. Fletcher knew. He had taught Gibbs that. Coincidentally, Gibbs was Kohli's favourite player when growing up.

Kolhi scored four hundreds with that wide stance in the Test series in Australia. During the Sri Lanka tour, though, commentators Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar and Aakash Chopra spoke out the cost of that wide stance. While it gave you economy of movement, it sort of locked the back foot. The cut shot went out of the game. In Australia this time, Kohli has been getting runs off the shorter deliveries outside off. It is not quite the traditional cut, the kind you saw Rahul Dravid playing, but it is still more than the back-foot drive. The bat still taps between the feet, but the stance has gone a little narrower.

On the eve of the Sydney ODI, Kohli explained the process behind the changes, crediting team director Ravi Shastri and batting coach Sanjay Bangar. "He [Shastri] was the one who told me to stand outside the crease and widen my stance after the England tour, and it worked wonders for me in Australia," Kohli said. "Then, going back to a narrower stance, again he brought it up, with Sanjay Bangar, who's the batting coach, to help me move better. We felt areas of my game are being blocked, and I can really open up. I was not able to play square of the wicket. So these things are important to get to you. But it's more important to work on those things as well."

To 81 balls bowled short of a length or short outside off in this current series, Kohli has scored 91 runs, hitting a boundary once every nine such deliveries. Batsmen are usually extremely careful with their routines when batting, especially when it comes to tinkering with what has worked for them. Kohli and Rahane have shown they are quite willing to mend what is broken.