Placing Kohli under such a microscope is the wrong thing to do, according to former England cricketer Graeme Swann, who now works as a commentator and pundit.
“Maybe when you have got a player as good as him, if he was English and I was in the English media, I would be saying hey, we need to ease up on him, we need to take pressure off our star asset so that he performs rather than putting more undue pressure on him” he said.
Much of the discussion surrounding the Indian cricket team has been focused on the form of Kohli, and how he hasn’t scored a century since 2019 — strange, for an individual with 70 international tons. However, this kind of media circus surrounding Kohli is more likely to hamper Kohli’s progress and performances than spur him on, argues Swann.
“As a player, you would feel the pressure from fans and fans have a job, that you can make it easier for your players or you can make it harder,” said Swann. “If you do not want Virat Kohli in your team anymore, by all means, keep on heaping the pressure or if you value the asset, then go easy on him.”
Ajay Jadeja, who was presenting with Swann, agreed: “You know what is the best of Kohli, at the moment you are probably getting the worst of Virat Kohli. He is only going to get better, I am with Swann, take the pressure off him rather than putting more on him.”
