Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli walks back after being dismissed on 44 at The Oval. (Image: Twitter)

Once again Indian skipper, Virat Kohli failed to convert his start into a three-figure score as he was dismissed for 44 in the second innings at the Oval, after he had scored a fifty in the first innings. The world is waiting for the India skipper to score his 71st international century – one which has eluded him since November 2019.

But he hasn’t been out of form or touch; the 32-year-old has consistently got starts, went past 30s, 40, and 50s, but faltered before the 100–run mark. In fact, since the start of last year, he has notched up 16 half-centuries across formats, but hasn’t been able to convert any of them into a century.

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli. Image Credits: Twitter

Steve Harmison, the former England pacer, pointed out that Joe Root too had a similar issue a couple of years ago. But now, the English skipper is thumping big runs once he found his mojo. Harmison reckons Virat Kohli will soon be back in his familiar groove.

“The one thing I will say on Virat is that Joe Root two years ago was exactly in the same place – he was getting between 50 and 80, and finding a way to get out. Everybody was questioning: Is he great to get that hundred? Is his conversion rate not great? Well this year, he’s got 7 hundreds (sic 6) and 1 fifty,” Harmison told ESPNcricinfo.

“Great players don’t go through barren spells for too long. Once he gets his one hundred, then I think there will be three of four come along in very very quick succession.”

Virat Kohli requires to understand that he has to bat for longer periods of time: VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman opined that the English bowlers have kept Virat Kohli tied down by bowling mostly in the channel of the off-stump, and outside it while rarely slipping away from their plans. This has made Kohli, Laxman believes, less patient making him poke outside the off stump.

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The 46-year-old advises the Indian skipper to be more patient, and bat for longer time, if he has to reach the elusive landmark.

vvs laxman
VVS Laxman. (Photo: Twitter)

“[For] Someone like Virat – and I have seen it with some the greats I have played alongside – there will be a patch in your career when your scoring rate would not be as quick as the majority of times you’d expect from a quality player,” Laxman said.

“At the moment, they [England bowlers] are playing with the patient of Virat Kohli and it’s not about the number of runs he is getting. What he probably requires to understand is he has to bat for longer periods of time to get to that milestone; once he gets there, automatically tuns will start flowing much quicker, he will probably get a lot more hundreds, as he had gone in the past.

“I think he is going through that spell where he has to be a lot more patient compared to when he was at his best, when hundreds after hundreds were flowing from his bat.”

Meanwhile, at The Oval, India have set England a target of 368 runs with little less than 4 sessions left in the game.

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