ENG vs IND 2018: Writing Off Virat Kohli Is The Biggest Mistake, Says Dale Steyn
South Africa speedster Dale Steyn has backed Virat Kohli to do well in the upcoming five-match Test series against England.
England is the only place where Virat Kohli is yet to prove himself in his already illustrious career. The India skipper has scored heavily in all the parts of the world but his record in England has left a lot to be desired after the disastrous tour of 2014.
Four years ago, Kohli had gone to England as one of the fastest rising youngsters. Not surprisingly, expectations were sky high from him. However, Kohli had failed to justify the hype surrounding him. In fact, he was one of the worst performers during the series.
He had scored only 134 runs from 10 innings as India lost the series 3-1. He scored 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20 in the five Tests and finished the series with an average of 13.50.
The English bowlers had found a chink in his armour and constantly troubled him with the off stump line. As a result, Kohli ended up edging those deliveries behind the stumps. He was caught behind the stumps on six occasions (once by the keeper and five times in the slip cordon).
However, Steyn is confident Kohli would do well this time around.
“Virat will do fine. He is a determined player. When people write him off, that’s the biggest mistake. When you write Virat off, he will come back and bite you where you don’t want to be bitten. So he will be fine in England,” Steyn told India Today.
India under Kohli has infamously not fielded the same playing eleven in successive Tests through his captaincy stint. Steyn, however, backed Kohli by saying that his former IPL teammate would always pick the team that can win games.
“As long as Virat is there, he is a master and knows what to get out of his players. He is quite an aggressive captain and he likes to win. So he will pick teams to win Test matches,” he reckoned.
