New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS): Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has some suggestions for India's Test captain Virat Kohli, who has been struggling to make runs in a longer format of the game and got out in a similar manner.

One of the most technically sound batters in his days, Manjrekar feels that cover drive being Kohli's main shots for making runs, he is looking confused over leaving the balls outside the off-stump and that is causing him trouble.

"Clearly, a guy who is going through an inevitable bad patch. You start losing confidence and then all got confused. I'm sure there is a lot of advice coming in his direction on leaving the balls outside the off-stump. But then, he might be thinking if he starts leaving those balls, where do I get those runs? Because the cover drive is one of his main shots," Manjrekar is quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Manjrekar said that Kohli should not leave the ball outside the off-stump and suggested to him a potential solution for the same.

"Something that I noticed for a year and a half, is the technique that Virat Kohli has started to trust, which is about lunging forward and getting onto that front foot no matter what. And that is hindering a lot of his batting. If you look at the strike rate in the last year or so, against New Zealand in WTC to the first innings in South Africa, 30-40. It is all to do because he is only playing on the front foot.

"I wouldn't advise him to leave balls outside off-stump. Maybe just the one thing he can do is start getting on the backfoot a little and not be a batter who is on the front foot no matter what. It makes the bowler's job a lot easier. If he starts using the crease, he will find that he will get a lot of loose balls. Otherwise, tall fast bowlers on these pitches just keep hitting the deck, and those turn out to be great balls for Virat Kohli because he uses that front foot," Manjrekar said.