Virat Kohli is arguably the greatest batsman in modern-day cricket and has been in the limelight for the past decade, but now things have suddenly changed when it comes to batting. When Kohli scored his 70th international century against Bangladesh in India’s first day-night Test, no one could have imagined that the wait for the 71st would be so long and critics would start questioning his credentials. In 2020, Covid-19 affected the sporting world as cricket was put on hold for a few months and when it was resumed it was not common to all due to the COVID protocol which included a bio-secure bubble. Many cricketers felt that the bubble was affecting them mentally as they were forced to stay in hotel premises during any series and were not allowed to go out after the match to refresh themselves.
Bubble-fatigue affected the performances of several players in the beginning and one of them was Kohli, who struggled to convert his fifties into triple-digit scores, a rare sight for all as the 33-year-old became known for himself. Were. Amazing conversion rate.
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Despite not breaking the 100-run mark, Kohli continued to score half-centuries at regular intervals. Kohli decided to step down as India’s T20I captain after the 2021 T20 World Cup and the BCCI took a tough decision to sack him from the ODI captaincy as the selectors wanted a singles captain in the white-ball formats. Kohli later stepped down as Test captain after the South Africa tour which shifted the balance of power and Rohit Sharma was appointed the new captain of all formats.
After the 2021 T20 World Cup, Kohli has been rested at regular intervals to manage his workload. He missed out on several international series, however, it has not gone down well for him so far. The batting maverick’s numbers have come down drastically in recent times as he was the player who once dominated the ICC rankings and was stagnant in the top 3 across all formats. But now he is out of the top 10 in Tests and T20s after consistent failures.
Kohli has scored 220 runs in 4 test matches in 2022 at an average of 31.42. The 33-year-old has been struggling relentlessly against balls outside the off-stump. Several teams have identified a flaw in Kohli’s armor as fast bowlers are targeting him from the outside off-stump line as they know he likes to play cover drives. He was dismissed for some unplayable deliveries simply because he continues to play them on the front foot which is exposing the edge of his bat to outgoing deliveries.
After the 2021 T20 WC, Kohli missed two Tests as he was rested for the first Test against New Zealand, while he suffered a back injury in the second Test on the tour of South Africa.
The ODI format is one of Kohli’s strongest where he achieved great success with the bat and a few years back he was known as the ‘run machine’ and ‘chess master’. However, life was not easy for him even in his favorite format as he scored just 158 runs in 7 ODIs this year at an average of 22.57.
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When it comes to T20Is, Kohli has missed several series since the ICC marquee event last year. He missed the three-match series versus the Blackcaps just after the T20 WC and missed the third T20I against West Indies in February. He was also rested by the selectors during the three-match series against Sri Lanka.
However, Kohli was available for IPL 2022 and played all matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore. It was a forgettable season for the maestro with the bat as he scored 341 runs in 16 matches at an average of 22.73. He faced a lot of criticism for his strike rate – 115.99 in IPL 2022, which put him under question.
Despite a bad IPL, the selectors rested him for the five-match T20I series against South Africa, which left many critics and fans upset. He missed the series against Ireland as he was in England for the rescheduled fifth Test at that time.
The rest period didn’t stop there for Kohli as he missed the first T20I vs England and later returned in the last two matches, where he managed to score 12 runs in an attempt to adopt India’s new fearless batting approach.
Recently, Kohli was rested for the upcoming five-match T20I series against two-time champions West Indies. Kohli’s place in India’s T20I squad is now in serious trouble as several former cricketers including the great Kapil Dev have started questioning his place in the team and his strike rate in the shortest format among their biggest concerns.
Kohli has played his cricket with a set pattern of the game, where he took some time to settle down and then dismissed himself in the last five overs. However, things have changed in Indian cricket as they are now trying to play an aggressive brand of cricket where the batsmen have to fire with the bat itself.
For a player like Kohli, who is already going through a lean phase, it is difficult to directly adopt the new approach as it requires some playing time to get used to it. Many former cricketers also believe that the more you play, the better your chance of getting back into form. However, the selectors are doing the exact opposite by giving them rest after rest to handle the workload which has not been as much for them this year. Every player goes through a thin patch in any game but when someone as talented as Virat Kohli goes down – the spotlight automatically falls on him and no matter how hard he tries to stay away from it, it rests on him. Will stay No one can deny that Kohli has been India’s biggest match-winner in the last decade but he will have to face the challenge to make a comeback.
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