New Delhi: He might not be playing the way we want him to and the way we are used to see him but that does not give us the right to write him off completely. The great fall of someone like Virat Kohli does hurt and when the lean patch doesn’t seem to have an ending, it irks us further as we are used to a different version and what we are offered is something unimaginable and indigestible.
But it’s not the ending till it actually ends. Not certainly the end of the road for the magnificent Virat Kohli, the star India batter will certainly have to navigate through a lot so as get back to what is his original. A strict abidance by the saying ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ is required to be revised again and again whenever we think of reprimanding someone with a big stature as that of King Kohli.
Legends possess the ability to bounce back
Undoubtedly one of the most magnificent players the cricketing world has seen, Virat Kohli does possess the ability and eagerness to bounce back as he is a legend of his sport who has withstood numerous storms in the past to stand where he is today. It might not be a cakewalk for the stylish batter but it won’t be an impossible task as well.
Being a proven performer, he had delivered several times when the chips were down for Team India, bringing glory for the country under immense pressure and tricky circumstances. Most importantly, the thirst for coming back to form would be very high as Kohli is the one who would be most hurt with his current form.
Why Kohli’s slump is so painful?
Virat Kohli’s decline in batting does not only have emotional consequences but practical too as his innings on the crease is almost equally proportional to Team India’s performance in a match. But the question that arises here is why does it hurt when Kohli isn’t performing? The epitome of batting, in the past 15 odd years, has set the bar so high that even an inch lesser is not at all acceptable. A score of 50 or less is put in the ‘poor form’ category and what follows is just criticism and heavy bashing.
We need to understand that even the biggest of the cricketing players in the world went through a lean patch and so is the same for the exuberant batter. Kohli is not completely out of form as even during his lean patch, he has displayed his batting prowess and class, albeit, not often, sending a strong signal that he still exists and maybe there’s lesser to worry about than shown.
Recovery in past indicative of brightness ahead
It’s not the first time that Virat Kohli has experienced a slump in his form. Taking into consideration his long career with astonishing numbers and records, playing is multiple formats, a dip is certain but it is not the end. From November 2019 to the next two years almost, Kohli was constantly in the headlines as he experienced the worst phase of his career. The star batter even opened up on his prolonged lean patch, saying that he felt cranky and frustration had creeped in because of his non-performance on the field.
But in late 2022, he roared back to form with a remarkable century and followed it up with another blistering ton to mark the perfect beginning of the year 2023. Not just this, the ODI World Cup 2023 proved to be the best for Kohli as he was the highest run-getter in the showpiece event. There can be several other instances backed by statistics which can prove that Kohli or any other great cricketer has the ability to comeback but giving a particular time frame for it is quite difficult.
Having said that, criticising showman Kohli for his current dip in form is right but it’s too early to write him off completely as a purple patch might be on the way.
