In the second of the three-match series against England, Team India suffered a humiliating 100-run loss as the hosts tied the series at Lord’s. While the Indian team’s performance with the bat was poor, Virat Kohli’s performance has been a particular source of rising concern for the team. Since his return to international play following the 2022 Indian Premier League, the Indian batsman has failed to surpass a positive scoring threshold in any of the formats.
Ajay Jadeja, a former Indian batter, disagrees with the “nonsense” facts which has been trailing throughout. Following the second ODI, Jadeja stated during a discussion on Sony SIX that Kohli had scored all of his century using the same method, therefore the issue is not with his batting style but rather with his attitude.
“Virat Kohli is a great player. Most of his runs came (from that technique). Even in his best form, he’s not the one who has ever cut the ball even when was scoring hundreds. If you look at him now and say, ‘has he changed anything?’, I don’t think he has. It’s just that the scores aren’t coming. I would probably worry that he’s getting 20s and 30s, if he had gotten out in the first 10-12 balls, it’s fine because any batsman can get out then,” said Jadeja.
“I know people believe that he should play on the backfoot. Obviously, sitting here on the television, everything looks easy. You get 2 yards extra, and you can see a different line. But he has always been like that. If he had changed anything, you could say, “maybe the backfoot play is not happening.” Show me any of his century where he plays the cut shot, and show me a shot when he has gone back and played to mid-on or mid-wicket.
“For me, it’s the same Virat Kohli physically. I think it’s the mental aspect,” Jadeja further said.
