Following Team India’s loss in the Test at England’s Edgbaston Stadium, the discussion of Virat Kohli’s poor form has intensified again. Virat Kohli bats at number four in the Tests for India and this position is considered the most important. The team is said to be suffering from the failure of Virat Kohli. Not only that, there has now been a debate about Virat Kohli’s exclusion from the team.
For almost 10 years, Virat Kohli was the number one batsman in the world in almost every format. During this, Virat Kohli broke record after record and was a strong contender to break Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODIs and 51 Test centuries.
But, in the last three years, things have gotten really bad for Kohli. Kohli, 33, has played more than 100 innings in all formats of cricket, including the IPL, since he scored 136 against Bangladesh in Kolkata in November 2019, but has so far failed to score a century.
Virat Kohli has failed to score his 71st century in international cricket for the last three years. Virat Kohli is starting well, but he couldn’t keep hitting for long, which begs the question of whether Kohli’s lack of confidence or lack of focus is causing him to leave early. More importantly, are there glitches in his game?
After scoring 11 and 20 against England, Kohli dropped three places to 13th in the latest Test batting rankings on Wednesday, reflecting the impact of his consistent poor form, particularly in cricket’s longer format.
Despite being in poor form for two and a half years, Virat still has one of the best career records in world cricket. But cricket is not played on the basis of previous records and current form plays an integral role in the career of any player. The decision to rest Kohli can be a very difficult one.
In the past many legendary cricketers like Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and others were eliminated due to poor form. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were dropped from the test team a few months ago. Although Pujara made a comeback in county cricket by scoring runs, Rahane is still out.
Many youngsters are constantly knocking on the door of the India team with impressive performances in domestic cricket and they can only stand a chance if someone makes a place for them. However, only time will tell if the team’s selectors or management will make the bold decision to drop Kohli.
