Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has reacted to Virat Kohli’s poor form. Ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the former India captain has shown glimpses of good batting but has been nowhere close to his dominating best.
Speaking about Kohli’s batting, Chopra has said that Kohli has 2 centuries in the last 5 years in Test cricket and one of those hundreds came on a flat batting rack in Ahmedabad against Australia. Kohli’s form is a major concern before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and the issue has been accentuated by India’s first ever home Test series loss against New Zealand.
“Is Virat Kohli’s Test form a concern? He has scored only two centuries in the last five years. It’s a concern if you see his numbers for the last five years and that was before the start of this Test match. He played only six innings in 2020 and had an average of 19. He played 19 innings in 2021 but had an average of 28, with no century,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“In 2022, he played 11 innings, again an average of 26, with no century. He did score two centuries in 2023 for sure, the average jumped to 55, but let’s also remember that one century came in a drawn game on a flat pitch in Ahmedabad. You won’t rate that too much. This year as well, he was going at an average of 32 in eight innings and now this Test match has also passed,” Chopra further added.
Star India batter Virat Kohli continued his dismal run in Test cricket in recent times as he got out to a low full toss on Day 2 of the second Test against New Zealand at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. Kohli walked in to bat with India desperately needing a big knock from his bat as they were 50/2. However, all hopes of Kohli enthralling the fans with the magic of his willow ended quickly as he lost his stumps against Mitchell Santner.
As a result, the 35-year-old continued his poor form in the ongoing year as he has scored just 228 runs from nine innings at an average of 28.50 with just one half century. The star batter’s numbers have plummeted since 2020 as he’s accumulated just 1816 runs from 33 matches at an average of 33.01 with two hundreds and nine fifties to his name. His dismal run has also seen his Test average drop from 54.97 in 2019 to 48.48 currently.
