Salman Butt Feels Virat Kohli’s First-Ball Duck Is Not a Point of Concern

Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt has opined that Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s failure in the first Test match is not a worrying sign going into the rest of the series. Kohli has hit a dry spell of late, having failed to score a century for over a year now.

In the first Test, the 32-year-old was dismissed by James Anderson while feeling for a delivery outside off on his very first ball. At that moment, India was suddenly under pressure while in pursuit of England’s total of 183. Talking about the rough patch Kohli is going through, Salman Butt said:

“Virat Kohli is human and every player suffers from loss of form at some point or the other in his career. Class, though, is permanent and Kohli is undoubtedly a class player. He has scored runs all over the world and has 70 international hundreds. Though he has not been on top of his game in the last two years, he is still among the Top 5 in the rankings. That shows how brilliantly he has performed and what his capability is.”

“He’s going through a bad phase but he will conquer it” – Salman Butt

It isn’t the first time that skipper Kohli has hit a rough patch. There have been times when he has been under pressure but he has always responded. This will just be one of those times but the fans need to be patient since the English conditions aren’t the easiest to bat in, according to Salman Butt.

“It is about time Kohli’s form comes back in this series. It might be difficult but I feel he will make a strong comeback and play the kind of innings one relates with Kohli. Getting out the first ball is not a big deal. It is just a matter of time.”

“He would not be too worried. There is always desperation among fans, who want Kohli to score runs and play match-winning knocks every time. He’s going through a bad phase but he will conquer it and the good times will be back as well,” Butt concluded.

Going into the second Test at Lord’s, Kohli will once again be under the pump with fans expecting him to revisit his 2018 self who scored 593 runs in 5 matches in the UK.