By: Mohit Singhal
India's star batter Virat Kohli is struggling with his form for the past 3 years. He is frequently finding some runs but fate has some other plans for him. His last century came back 3 years ago in 2019 and since then he always had a long walk back to the pavilion.
However, the thing is all great batters of their generation had faced a situation like this in their respective careers one’s. Though, their rough patch lasted only a few months or one year unlike Kohli’s. Virat is going into his 3rd year of a bad time in the middle.
In the second T20I against England too, he had an awful another outing miscuing a shot off Gleeson to return after scoring just 1 run. With that, fans and experts now asking about his place on the T20I team.
From greats like Sachin Tendulkar to Ricky Ponting, all had faced some serious issues with the bat in their respective careers. In fact, after reaching the top, these legends never had a moment in their career when their test average had dipped below 30.
And to add that, the greatest all-rounder Jacques Kallis and West Indies great Brian Lara had to come to the conclusion of taking a retirement. But none of them had gone through the phase when they didn’t count even a century in their career.
However, compared to those greats, Virat Kohli’s bad phase has extended more than enough for now. It’s been 3 years and his runs have almost dried up. He is giving up against debutants too which doesn’t speak of his calibre and the experience with which he comes to the middle.
This long dry run even raised a debate about his place in the Indian team. Many former cricketers believe that if Kohli is not scoring runs, then why not give chance to others who are performing for the nation.
The talks about his exclusion from the T20 World Cup have now become a hot debate with former Indian captain Kapil Dev saying that Virat doesn’t deserve a spot in the Indian T20I squad now.
His test average has also gone below 50 from having around 55 when he last scored a century in a test. His test ranking is out of the top 10 and his T20I ranking is too below 15.
Now, it’s a do-or-die situation for Kohli. Either he should prove his critics wrong once again which he did many a time or just pave the way for newcomers who are seeking a spot in the Indian 11. It is up to Virat Kohli now.
