Veteran India opener Wasim Jaffer has given his opinion on Virat Kohli’s dry run with the bat in recent times. The former India captain last scored a century way back in 2019 and since then he has been scoring fifties but failing to convert them into the three-digit mark. In the second Test against Sri Lanka, Kohli got off to a decent start but was dismissed on 23 after a Dhananjaya de Silva’s delivery kept low and left the prolific India batter plumb in front of the wicket.
The former India batter feels that Kohli is low on confidence and once he scored a hundred his form will return automatically.
“There is nothing like that (on whether there are flaws in Kohli’s technique). He doesn’t have enough runs under his belt and there is a lack of confidence. The kind of runs that we expect from Kohli is not seen. Once he gets to that hundred and he finds form, I am quite sure that we will get to see the old Virat Kohli,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo.
From there on, Virat Kohli, who got loud cheers at his IPL home ground, and Vihari steadied the Indian innings. Vihari punished the short balls and stitched a handy 47-run stand for the third wicket before Vihari fell to Jayawickrama on 31. Soon, Kohli was also trapped in front of the wicket on 23 by Dhananjaya de Silva before the Tea break.
It was Shreyas Iyer’s counter-attacking 92-run knock that pulled India back in the game as they managed to post 252 on the scoreboard.
Jaffer claims that it was a good knock looking at the context of the match but not the best by an Indian in recent times.
“I don’t think so (on Shreyas Iyer’s knock being the best by an Indian in recent times). There are many knocks of Rishabh Pant that have been magnificent. But definitely if you see the context of this Test match and the direction in which it is going, then it is a great knock.”
