England legend Geoffrey Boycott has shared his thoughts on Virat Kohli's eternal-looking struggles with the bat. The former England opener reckons the star India batter is having problems because he is forcing his way to make runs.
Instead, Virat Kohli should focus on spending as much time as possible on the crease as that would allow him to get accustomed to the pace and bounce of the ball, which would then help him in finding his touch. Right now, he appears too eager to make runs which is what is costing him his wicket in games.
In the recently concluded fifth and final Test against England at Edgbaston, Virat Kohli could only make 31 runs across the two innings. In the first essay, Virat Kohli chopped a Matthew Potts delivery back onto the stumps at the score of 11, and in the second, he got a jaffa from Ben Stokes to be dismissed for 20.
“Kohli dragged the ball onto the stumps since he was in two minds. He should have come forward, but he could not decide how to handle it. He has to clear his mind in this regard. He is not looking fluent and should realize that when someone is not in good touch, he should be extra cautious. He has to reduce the number of mistakes, must concentrate more, and value his wicket,” Geoffrey Boycott told Mid-Day.
“The moment he starts doing that [concentrating], the mistakes will be minimized. He should not think about big scores. Let the targets be small, take more singles, and get acclimatized. Runs will give him confidence which is essential at the moment. It's a mental game and it's a pity that such a big player is not among the runs,” Geoffrey Boycott pointed out.
Virat Kohli has now gone nearly a thousand days without a century in international cricket. The Delhi-born cricket star last made a hundred against Bangladesh in the famous Pink Ball Test, the first on Indian soil in Kolkata in 2019.
Since then, runs have been hard to come by for Virat Kohli. Earlier this year, his Test average dropped below 50 for the first time in five years.
Virat Kohli's current stats show a worrying trend. He has only managed to score 873 runs in 33 innings with an extremely poor average of 26.45 since his ton against Bangladesh.
While his average went below under 20 in 2020 when India only participated in three Tests due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, Virat Kohli averaged 28.12 in his next 11 Tests in 2021.
Though his average has witnessed a marked improvement as it is hovering in the mid-30s this year, it is still a long way behind from his prime days, when it was well over 50 for more than five years.
During the Birmingham Test, Virat Kohli was more in news for his on-field behavior with former England cricketer and noted commentator David Llyod calling him the ‘pantomime villain' in cricket.
David Llyod's comments came after Virat Kohli was engaged in a verbal spat with England wicketkeeper batter Jonny Bairstow at Edgbaston, a Test match India eventually lost by seven wickets.
During the match, Virat Kohli was continuously sledging Jonny Bairstow but the England batter responded in the best fashion possible. He let his bat do all the talking as he played match-defining knocks in both innings and ended up winning the Man of the Match award.
Despite the heated exchange between the two players, Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow shook hands with each other after England's victory on Tuesday, a moment David Lloyd described as “glorious”.
However, David Lloyd suggested that if Virat Kohli wanted to engage opposition players in such altercations, he’ should rather change the sport he plays because cricket had no place for insults, abuses, and provocations.
David Llyod’s advice for Virat Kohli was to take up cage fighting to find out if he could compete there as well.
“I thought the on-field scenes at the conclusion of the game were glorious, with India’s players warmly congratulating Root and Jonny Bairstow and recognizing the epic job they had done. Special mention for Virat Kohli, who is the proudest and most combative India cricketer, and at times plays the pantomime villain, but who had a special word to both players. I like that,” David Lloyd wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.
“Having said that about Kohli, I do sometimes wonder where the line is and who draws it. Sportsmanship, banter, gamesmanship, boorish behavior, insults, abuse – we saw everything on the fourth day. Of course, cricket is a non-contact sport and the trader is safe in the knowledge that he or she can’t get hurt. But if a player feels the need to engage another, my advice is to take up cage fighting and have a proper go. Let’s see what you’re really made of,” he emphasized.