Virat Kohli is down in the dumps. His batting form has deserted him and the competitive streak is missing from his captaincy. However, as his journey so far has been underlined by resilience, the chances are that captain Kohli will be back among big runs in the Champions Trophy. It will be hard to keep this feisty man down as he seeks to galvanise his team and turn prolific with the willow again. By S. Dinakar.
How quickly things changein cricket, irrespective ofa protagonist’s statureand ability! As belief, a precious commodity, dips, the player in question suffers a rather rude change in fortunes. And he comes under scrutiny for the wrong reasons. As he is dissected, the pressure only mounts. It’s a vicious cycle really, accentuated by a series of setbacks.
Look at what Virat Kohli is undergoing at present. The runs dried up in the later stages of the season and his team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, finished at the bottom of the IPL table after going through the horrors.
KOHLI HAS APPEARED strangely subdued in the action-packed Twenty20 competition. The passion and the aggro with which he plays his cricket have been missing. Even on those occasions—and there have been many — when his RCB collapsed inexplicably we could not quite witness the anger in Kohli. In fact, after a particularly demoralising rout, he was smiling at a post-match interview, sounding philosophical about the outcome.
This was not the firebrand Kolhi we had become accustomed to over the years. The Delhi cricketer, in several respects, is similar to that legendary Pakistani Javed Miandad. He too would, unmindful of retaliation, taunt and provoke the most threatening bowler in the opposite camp; if Miandad did that to Dennis Lillee, then Kohli took on Mitchell Johnson.
Kohli too is involved in on-field scraps, gets under the skin of the opponent and fiercely puts across his views. Adverse situations and controversies do not weigh him down; in fact, they spur Kohli on.
That appears a long time ago now. The Kohli on view in the IPL has been a shadow of his former self. As captain, he has hardly been inspiring, not quite having his finger on the pulse of the game at all times.
Has the long, gruelling home Test season left physical and mental scars on this 28-year-old cricketer? Is this emotional player finally exhausted?
This story is from the May 27, 2017 edition of Sportstar.
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This story is from the May 27, 2017 edition of Sportstar.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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