Saturday, 05 Oct, 2024
By: Anshul Vipat
A rejuvenated and happy Kohli will give India a big boost for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia next month.
Virat Kohli is back in form and that is enough for his fans to celebrate and silence his critics. In the recently concluded Asia Cup and the domestic series against Australia, the 33-year-old made valuable knocks to announce his arrival. Kohli, who had been battling poor form and was unable to score a century since November 2019, fired a warning to rival teams ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November, smashing a match-winning 63 off 48 balls and guiding his team to a memorable win in the third and final T20I of the recently concluded bilateral series between India and Australia. He also stitched a match-altering 104-run partnership off 62 balls with Suryakumar Yadav to help India register a come-from-behind series win over the Men from the Down Under.
It was in Asia Cup when Kohli announced his comeback by smashing a 61-ball unbeaten 122 in India's final match in the multilateral tournament. This was his maiden T20I ton and 71st international century overall. The former captain made 276 runs in five matches at an impressive average of 92.
For a player who used to notch up hundreds with almost ridiculous ease, a gap of 1020 days since his last international century, against Bangladesh in the day/night Test at Kolkata in November 2019, was hard to digest. Kohli, who first made his international debut in 2008 had been the rock behind India's memorable wins. He was performing with a consistency that made him the only batsman to average 50 plus in all three formats.
His test batting average in the two years were a staggering 75.94 and 75.64 respectively. The average dipped a bit in 2018 (still incredibly high at about 55) before recovering again to 68 in 2019. And then suddenly there was a barren run. Although, this happens to even the greatest of players, but in Kohli's case his slump form continued for an inordinate long time, enough to find himself in the eye of a storm of criticism.
He averaged a pathetic 19.33 in 2020 and has managed to reach 31 in the current year. In the same period, his three other contemporary greats Joe Root, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson have taken test batting to new heights; with Joe Root in particular smashing records at will. Kohli's slump in form was seen in ODIs and T20Is as well. His average in ODIs dropped from his career-best of 133 in 2018 to 43 in 2021. As of September 2022, his average his 21.
For many months, there was a call to drop the ace batsmen from the team due to his inconsistent performance. Kohli had to resign from captainship following India's poor performance in 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai, ICC Test Championship final and a knockout loss in 2019 World Cup in England. Kohli had also confessed that he was undergoing depression during this phase.
Now, country's senior most batsman is back in form. The country and Kohli himself will heave a sigh of relief. A rejuvenated and happy Kohli will give India a big boost for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia next month.
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