When You See Him Bat, You Don't See The Same Virat Kohli- Aakash Chopra

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra asserted that Virat Kohli has been scoring runs and getting starts but he is not the same batter who used to dominate bowling attacks back in the day.

Kohli has scored six fifties in his last eight ODIs but he has failed to convert them into big scores, something he was very natural at doing. This has hurt the Indian team, as the middle-order has fumbled once the top three fall.

“From a personal and individual standpoint, you want to convert those 50s into 100s because you’ve got to save something for the rainy days as well. He’s not going through a bad patch of form, so to speak, in terms of runs, but when you see him bat, you don’t see the same Virat Kohli.”

“He’s not imposing, he’s not dominating, he’s still scratching around, he’s scoring those runs and that’s what all great players do – we saw Sachin, Rahul – we’ve seen them accumulate runs, but he’s Kohli) not an accumulator, he’s an enforcer but he’s not there yet,” Chopra told on Game Plan.

“Kohli’s job description has changed a little” – Aakash Chopra

Chopra further mentioned that Kohli may not have to score big runs but it is still very important for him to finish games off and win matches for the country. With Rohit Sharma taking over, Kohli will also have to follow his brand of cricket, as per Chopra.

“But the one thing I actually want to see, is now Rohit Sharma will have his stamp of authority and the brand of cricket that he wants to play. Kohli has to be a part of the same philosophy. And once you have a different philosophy in place, sometimes it just liberates you, because you are not really thinking about, ‘Ok, I need to score or I need to do this.”

“This is what all of us have to do together.’ And that is what I am waiting to see, whether it unleashes and liberates Kohli, no matter you get out on 50 but score that 50 off 55 balls, don’t worry about scoring a century, finishing games off, as a captain, you’ve done it all this while. It’s no longer your only job, your job description has changed a little,” Chopra added.

India takes on West Indies from February 6 where Kohli will be playing under Rohit for the first time.

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