India never began well; youngsters need to emulate Virat Kohli’s mindset: Sunil Gavaskar

According to former captain Sunil Gavaskar, India lost the ODI series against New Zealand due to poor starts, and the team's young batters should learn from Virat Kohli how to pace an innings when chasing challenging targets.

In keeping with their prior poor performance, India lost their first-ever 50-over home series against New Zealand in the third and final ODI in Indore by 41 runs. Despite leading the way with a 108-ball 124, Kohli was unable to find a reliable partner to guide the difficult chase of 338.

"Unless Virat Kohli got substantial support, it was always going to be difficult, and he got very little of it. The real problem for India throughout the series has been the starts. As they say, well begun is half done. India never began well, and that's one of the main reasons they weren't able to chase these big scores," Gavaskar said on JioStar.

"...when you lose someone in good form like KL Rahul, and you have Nitish Kumar Reddy, who hadn't really done justice to his ability until this inning of 53 runs, and then Harshit Rana, someone you are never quite sure what you are going to get, it becomes an uphill climb. That's exactly what India found," Gavaskar explained.

Virat Kohli slammed 124 runs and kept India’s hopes alive until his dismissal after having hit 10 fours and 3 sixes. The renowned former batsman praised Kohli for persevering and encouraged the others to follow in his footsteps.

"The thing about him is that he's not tied down to an image. A lot of batters and bowlers are constrained by how they're perceived, and they feel they must live up to that image. Virat isn't like that.

He's tied to the job at hand, and that job is to score runs. Sometimes, that means starting watchfully and then opening up. Sometimes, it means attacking early and then spreading the field and picking up ones and twos. He's not governed by expectations of how he should play," he added.

Gavaskar stated that young players should learn from Virat Kohli about his temperament and how to pace innings.

"That temperament is the key. He doesn't think, 'I'm expected to hit a six.' He plays according to the situation. He never gives up. Even till the end, he was trying. For youngsters, that's the biggest lesson: don't live up to an image. Play the situation, and you'll be far more consistent than you ever imagined,” Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar said he was pleased by Harshit Rana's ability to stay in the moment and not let prior failures impact him mentally, following his lower-order half century that revived chances of an unexpected victory.

"It was a very good innings by Harshit Rana. He batted exactly like a lower-order batter should, without worry and without expectations...What impressed me was that Harshit didn't get hassled by earlier failures, especially with someone like Virat Kohli at the other end," he said.

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