Rahul Dravid Pointed Out To Me What Is Going Wrong With Virat Kohli, Says Pragyan Ojha
Published - 15 Jul 2022, 04:41 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:10 AM
Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha has revealed that Rahul Dravid revealed to him during a chat what is going wrong with Virat Kohli amidst his struggle for runs. This comes after Kohli failed to come good yet another time during the second ODI between England and India at Lord’s which the home side won by 100 runs to level the series 1-1.
Kohli had missed the first match of the series due to a groin injury, and even as he made a positive start to his innings at Lord’s on Thursday, Kohli eventually perished for 16 runs as he chased a delivery outside-off from David Willey, and nicked it for a simple catch for wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
The right-hander’s barren patch with the bat has gotten worse and he has failed to cross the 20-run mark across formats since his return to international cricket in the rescheduled fifth Test of the series against England.
On Thursday, India’s Ex-spinner Pragyan Ojha recalled a discussion with Rahul Dravid to decode Kohli’s struggles.
“I’ll tell you about the mindset. I was very curious about how the batsmen think. I used to discuss this a lot. Once, I was having a discussion in England with Rahul (Dravid) bhai about this. He pointed out that there’s a big difference between Indian/subcontinent players and English players.
“In England, the batters usually get set on the crease while leaving the deliveries. In subcontinent, until the batter feels the ball on his bat, he won’t get set. He won’t get the satisfaction. I think this is happening with Virat Kohli,” Ojha said on Cricbuzz.
He Knows He Is Not Scoring Runs: Pragyan Ojha On Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli’s last century in any format came in a Test in Kolkata against Bangladesh in November 2019 and since then his form has dropped off considerably. However, prior to this alarming fall in fortunes, Kohli was still scoring half-centuries and contributing to the team, but the last year or so has been brutal as he had failed to reach the 50-run mark as well.
During his chat on Cricbuzz, Ojha, then, explained that Kohli wouldn’t be chasing the deliveries such as yesterday’s from Topley when he would be in good form.
“He knows he is not scoring runs, and that is why he’s probably chasing those deliveries. Earlier, he wouldn’t be so desperate to chase such balls to score runs. Now, the situation has changed. Everyone is talking about him. You may switch-off as much as you want, but your mind keeps going back to it,” said the former India spinner.
Meanwhile, Kohli has been rested for both, ODIs and T20Is against West Indies.
