Aakash Chopra, a former Indian cricketer turned commentator opined on the current inability of Virat Kohli to stay in form ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which will be starting on November 22. Though some evidence has appeared of his abilities, he has not quite resembled the cricketer everyone has seen.
Only 2 Centuries In 5 Years For Virat Kohli
Chopra points out that Kohli has scored only two centuries in the last five years of Test cricket, one of which came on a flat pitch in Ahmedabad against Australia. This is a worrying trend, especially when India has just suffered its first-ever historic home Test series loss to New Zealand. Kohli was seen to be at the worst of times when he lost out to a low full toss from Mitchell Santner at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, while the second Test against New Zealand was going on. When India was at 50/2, sending Kohli to the field was like giving a chance of scoring with a stabilized board for him. However, he disappointed early as his wicket fell.
Virat Kohli’s Test Form A Matter Of Concern
“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.
Virat Kohli’s Test Career
This year couldn’t get any worse for him he has managed to score only 228 runs in nine innings at an average of 28.50 with just one half-century to his name. Overall, since 2020, his stats have significantly dropped—he has scored only 1,816 runs from 33 matches at an average of 33.01. He has also reached two centuries and nine fifties. Virat Kohli’s Test average has dropped from 54.97 in 2019 to 48.48 currently.
He stands at number 42 based on average run from players over the mark of 1000 since 2020 among batting. His fellow countrymen within the ‘Fab Four,’ which comprises Kane Williamson and Steve Smith, in general are going much way above his average. It started with Kane Williamson leading them to take the top position 502 runs with an aggregate mean of 64.15 that comprises 11 times centuries and four 50’s. Joe Root aggregated to score 5,367 runs with an average score at 55.32 while Steve Smith only managed to garner 2,521 runs at an aggregate of 45.01 average.
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In Tests Virat Kohli has scored 9035 runs in 117 matches, this includes 29 centuries and 31 half-centuries. His average remains 48.31 and strike rate- 55.77.
