Virat Kohli is Going to Make up for all his Failures in 2014 in England - Sunil Gavaskar

The former India skipper, Sunil Gavaskar has backed Virat Kohli to make amends for his disastrous showing in England in 2014 in the upcoming series.

Four years ago, Kohli had gone to England as one of the rising stars of world cricket. Expectations were high from the Delhi-born batsman who was rightly seen as the flag-bearer of Indian cricket in the years to come.

However, Virat failed miserably. In fact, he was perhaps the worst performer for India in Tests precisely.

He scored only 134 runs from ten innings, as India lost the Test 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 13.40.

However, Gavaskar believes Kohli will turn things around on the upcoming tour.

“He is going to make up for all his failures in 2014. The fact that he missed out on the Surrey stint, I believe is a blessing in disguise,” Gavaskar told Sony Six.

“He had a bad time in 2014, but that was his first step up the ladder for greatness. Now he is right up there. With all that experience, there is going to be a bucket full of runs for him,” he added.

Gavaskar further said the break would be beneficial for Kohli. The 29-year old was supposed to play for Surrey in June. However, he didn’t play because of a neck injury.

“He is too good a player. He doesn’t actually need a stint with a county team to score runs. What he needed more than anything else was a break. He has got a whole month of it now. That one month off would have rejuvenated him and added to his hunger to score runs here in England,” Gavaskar said.

Kohli has completely transformed as a batsman since the 2014 tour. Arguably the best batsman in the world right now, he has already proved himself in Australia and South Africa.

During the tour of Australia in 2014-15, he had slammed four hundred in four Tests.

The India captain has since scored six double hundreds including four in successive series. Against England in the five-Test series at home, Kohli scored 655 runs and led India to a 4-0 triumph.

He was also in top form in South Africa, smashing 871 runs across formats. He was the leading run-scorer in the Tests and ODI series.

India will play three T20Is, three ODIs and five Test matches in a two-month-long series, starting July 3.