Virat Kohli, the star Indian batter, has been struggling in the longest format of the game. Kohli has just scored two Test centuries in the last five years and his last Test century came against Australia in 2023. His batting average in Test has also dropped below 50 and these are desperate times for the former Indian captain.
Former Indian cricketer, Dinesh Karthik, talked about Kohli’s Test form in the recent home series against New Zealand and said that the series hasn’t been good for him. The former Indian captain has faced constant issues while negating and playing the spinners.
Karthik feels that Kohli will take the failure on his chin and work harder given the kind of personality that he is. The former Indian wicketkeeper feels that Kohli has reached a stardom where he will have to face new challenges and come out of it successfully.
“Virat Kohli has not had it easy, the series has not been good to him, three out of four innings, he has disappointed. It’s obviously a recurring partner where spinners have troubled him, and I think he will go and figure out what he needs to do to come out stronger. He is a man, who is searching for answers. When you reach that level of genius and super stardom, you will be thrown challenges and here is another challenge. India likes to play on pitches that aids spin, what is his gameplan?” said Dinesh Karthik while speaking to Cricbuzz.
Dinesh Karthik wants Virat Kohli to play domestic cricket
Virat Kohli’s average in Test cricket has dropped below 50 (Image Credits: X)
Karthik also put his faith on Kohli and believed in his capabilities. However, he did put a question mark on Kohli’s Test form in the recent five years and how he has not delivered in this format. He talked more about his struggles against spin and suggested the former Indian captain to go back to domestic cricket and fix his issues against the spinners. Karthik called the left-arm spinners as the potent threat to the star Indian batter.
“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. 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.
India lost their first Test series at home, since 12 years. They have been beaten by New Zealand 2-0 with one match to play in Mumbai. The Indian batters along with Kohli have faced constant issues against the Kiwi bowlers and the series has been a disaster for them ahead of their upcoming tour of Australia.
