IND vs NZ 3rd ODI: Sunil Gavaskar has revealed the reason behind Virat Kohli's consistency, and that is he is not tied down to an image, and by that he means that Virat is not playing in the manner in which he is supposed to, but is playing as per the match situations. Gavaskar made these comments after the host lost the three-match ODI series to New Zealand by 2-1, where Kohli's consistency was the only highlight as he had scored 240 runs at a staggering average of 80.

He had scored a brilliant knock of 124 runs off 108 balls and alone took the team to a closer target while chasing 338 as no other batter scored more than 53 runs.

It was his third ton and fifth half-century after playing in nine matches since September last year.

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“The thing about him is that he’s not tied down to an image. A lot of batters, a lot of bowlers are tied down to an image. That this is the way, you know, they are perceived, and so they [think they] should stick to that. I don’t think he is tied down to an image. He’s tied down to the job at hand. The job at hand is to score runs, maybe watchfully to start with, and then open out, or score bang-bang at the start and then spread the field, and then look for the ones and twos. He’s not tied down by any image, and that is the reason he is consistent," Gavaskar was quoted as saying on JioHotstar.

Kohli was dismissed after he lost all his partners from the other end; Kuldeep Yadav was their last batter. When the host needed 46 runs off 26 balls to win, he tried to smash a six but got out by Kristian Clarke's slower delivery.

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“Apart from his talent, of course, and temperament. And when I said not tied down by image, I talked about the temperament. Temperament is not to say, ‘Oh, I’m expected to hit the six.’ It’s not that. He will watch it and do it, and he never gives up. He refuses to give up. So even till the end, he was trying that a little tired shot. Sometimes you know the gloves can get a bit sweaty, and so the grip on the handle would have gone a little bit awry. And that’s why, instead of going straight, the bad face turned up, and he was caught inside the boundary. For me, this is the important thing to learn for any youngster, not to live up to an image, play the situation, and you will be more consistent than ever hoped for," he concluded.