Sunil Gavaskar claims he holds the missing piece to Virat Kohli's slump in form

Former India cricketer Gavaskar says he can help Kohli in returning back to international dominance... in just 20 minutes

Virat Kohli's wait for a century has grown to a depressing 79 innings, and with each passing failure to reach three figures concerns grow over whether fans will ever see the Kohli who made the game look so easy again.

Kohli's last Test century came pre-pandemic, in November 2019, and the former India captain has been on a run which belies his career stats. However, a great of the game has claimed he has the tools to fix the miserable streak.

Sunil Gavaskar believes it would take less than half an hour for him to help Kohli find his form again.

"If I had about 20 minutes with him, I would be able to tell him the things he might have to do," Gavaskar told India Today.

^{Virat Kohli walks back to the pavillion after falling victim to Reece Topley for 17 in the recent England-India ODI [Stu Forster/Getty Images]}

"It might help him, I am not saying it will help him, but it could, particularly with regards to that off-stump line."

There's food for thought for Rahul Dravid around the idea of bringing Gavaskar in on a 'mentorship' basis. Gavaskar has more Test runs than all bar 12 men to have played the game, and that wealth of experience could certainly come in handy as Kohli looks to establish his stronghold on the international game once more.

Gavaskar picked out a particular area which Kohli needs to work on.

"Having been an opening batter, having been troubled by that line, there are certain things that you try and do," Gavaskar said. "It goes back to the fact that his first mistake turns out to be his last.

"Again, just because he is not amongst the runs, there is this anxiety to play at every delivery because that is what batters feel, they have got to score. You look to play at deliveries that you otherwise won't. But he has gotten out to good deliveries as well on this particular tour."

^{Kohli in the nets on the tour of England [Stu Forster/Getty Images]}

The notion of mentorship within elite cricket is not new.

Former Australia cricketer Adam Gilchrist spent some time with Bob Mueleman, former Western Australia cricketer and selector, who was also a close mentor to the likes of Damien Martyn and Justin Langer.

Mueleman gave Gilchrist the idea to use a squash ball inside his glove to aid his batting. The contraption was nothing new to Mueleman but it's success was evident as Gilchrist went on to score a century in his returning game against Sri Lanka.

Kohli could use Gavaskar for similar insight, and some may argue the Indian side wouldn't necessarily get any weaker should he spend time out of the XI to do so, given the number of capable middle-order batters waiting to prove their worth.

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