New Delhi: Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik is of the opinion that star Indian player Virat Kohli needs to return the domestic fold in a bid to regain his mojo with the bat amid a barren run in Test cricket. He also acknowledged his former India and RCB teammates challenges against spin bowlers after recent failures has raised some serious questions over his technique to adapt against the turn.
Virat departed for the scores of 1 and 17, respectively, during India’s 113-run crushing defeat to New Zealand in the second Test in Pune. He was dismissed by left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner on both occasions with his troubles to play continues to stall his much-awaited comeback in the red-ball format.
Since the start of 2021, Kohli has played 52 Test innings and 24 times has fallen against the spinners, averaging 33.38 in the traditional format. Speaking on Virat’s struggling phase against spinners in Tests, Karthik asked the former captain to focus on working on his ability for better results.
“We all know what he is capable of. This series was not meant to be. Like the fans have been saying, he has not done it for a long time and that we cannot run away from. We don’t want to sugarcoat it because we want to be as objective in assessing any player, any performance. At the moment Virat Kohli’s Test record in the last 2-3 years, has not been great against spin,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
“What he needs to do is probably go back to domestic cricket and focus on what needs to be done with the current rules of DRS. There is no doubt the left-arm spinners pose a big threat,” he added.
Virat, who played for Delhi in the domestic cricket during his formative years, made his last appearance in Indian domestic competitions in 2012. He played his last match against Uttar Pradesh during the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy season.
How has Virat scored in New Zealand home Tests?
Virat started the three-match home Test series on an appalling note after he was dismissed for a duck as India were shot down to their lowest Test total of 46 on home soil. He showed promising return with a confident 70 in the second innings as India managed to overturn the 356-run deficit imposed by the Black Caps in the first innings, though they eventually lost the Test by eight wickets.
The twin failures in Pune with a set of low scores only added to the collective batting woes as Mitchell Santner ran through India’s batting order on the rank-turner. Virat has scored 88 runs in four innings in the series so far at an average of 22. He will need to be among the runs when India face Tom Latham & Co. in the final Test in Mumbai, starting on November 1.
