Virat Kohli has widely been regarded as one of the best batters to have come out from India, second perhaps only to the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. However, much like his idol, Kohli has been struggling for runs in the later half of his career especially with the current elongated dry patch which has lasted for months and caused a lot of worry for the Indian cricket fans.
While Kohli did show signs of getting back to form in the last ODI match against England with a 52 run knock but the veteran batter could not continue that momentum into Champions Trophy. However, India’s number 3 batter could not salvage his best during the India vs Bangladesh Champions Trophy match on Thursday as he was dismissed on a score of 22, falling while trying to ramp up the tempo once against spin bowling.
Notably, spin bowling and the line outside the off stump have proved to be Kohli’s achiles heel in the recent times and the veteran batter doesn’t seem to have developed a solution to these problems yet.
Former India stars weigh in on Kohli’s technique:
Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble feels that Kohli is a good player of spin but he is ‘trying too hard’ and thinking too hard about doing well.
Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, Kumble said, “To start off against spin, on surfaces like that, you need a lot of confidence. He’s certainly trying too hard to manoeuvre that,”
“He’s a good player of spin when he’s in form, when he’s wanting to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike. Now he’s trying too hard to score runs rather than just manoeuvre, and that’s been his game plan.” Kumble added.
Meanwhile, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Kohli no longer possess the big hitting game like Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli and his lack of form has put him in a ‘tight corner’. Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo, “He’s in a tight corner, Virat Kohli. His confidence is still down…He wants to still show that he’s up there for a fight, and I am starting to see maybe there’s a little bit of bravado as well, and why not? You can’t be revealing what’s inside you.”
“Rohit Sharma still has the big game. He can step out and hit a guy over extra cover and play the short-arm pull and [is] willing to take chances. Virat Kohli doesn’t have the big game anymore. We’ve seen on occasion him playing the big shot, but he can’t hit at will hit like a Shubman Gill does.” Manjrekar added.
