Kohli’s dubious ‘century’, goes 100 matches without a ton
Dushmantha Chameera banged it short-of-a-length, or ‘hard length’, as it’s also called. The ball reared a bit off the deck, but it was outside off and leavable. Nine times out of ten, Virat Kohli would leave it alone, irrespective of the format. He was facing the first ball of his innings.
Why Kohli tried to play it was anybody’s guess. Intent could be the buzzword, but he wasn’t in the right position to play, forcing a shot off the back foot. Kohli played it away from his body and not riding the bounce properly, giving a simple catch to Deepak Hooda at backward point, or more a square gully.Fans were understandably downcast. They still come to watch Kohli bat. The player himself was a bit startled, a wry smile on his face, trying to come to terms with the golden duck.
What has happened to India’s best batsman? Such an elongated lean patch is unusual for someone of his quality. If there’s a technical issue, Kohli doesn’t need a coach to address it. The issues he had with his front toe, in red-ball cricket, he worked on it. Big scores have deserted him of late. He has now gone 100 matches across formats without a century (courtesy of cricket statician Mahzer Arshad on Twitter). A 41 not out against Punjab Kings and a 48 against Mumbai Indians have been his tenuous link to anything noteworthy – pretty decent for lesser mortals but not his lofty standards – in this IPL.
Golden Duck for king kohli #ViratKohli #ViratKohli #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/vKYrriDZnd
— ALI HASAN (@AliChampion9) April 19, 2022
It’s inevitably led to the question: Is Kohli’s batting in crisis?
To put things in perspective, however, luck seems to be playing peek-a-boo with him. Twice in seven games in this tournament, Kohli was run out. For a long period now, he isn’t getting a second opportunity, paying dearly for his first make. The rub of the green is not going Kohli’s way at all.
Is there a change in Kohli’s game? “Virat Kohli is going through a low patch of scores. He hasn’t hit for seven innings, a big one is around the corner. He is trying to do things differently against spinners (trying to take them on), but against pacers, no change,” RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar told Star Sports.
RCB would certainly like to see an upturn in Kohli’s form. Without that, their middle order is becoming heavily dependent on Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik. The latter, enjoying a second wind, had bailed the team out in the last game against Delhi Capitals. On Tuesday, skipper Faf du Plessis batted through and scored a fine 64-ball 96.
But Kohli’s off-form has a major Indian cricket subplot, especially in a T20 World Cup year. It hurt India at the ICC event in UAE last year and the team can’t afford to have a struggling Kohli in Australia later this year. During the home limited-overs series against Sri Lanka, the one that preceded the IPL, India captain Rohit Sharma’s advice to reporters was to leave Kohli alone, as Rohit felt that everything was fine with his predecessor. But numbers don’t lie and a Kohli resurrection is overdue.
