The Guy Is A Great Player, Name Me A Player That Hasn’t Gone Through A Rough Patch – Kevin Pietersen Backs Virat Kohli Amid Constant Form Concerns

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen backed former India captain Virat Kohli amid his constant form concerns and said that every great player goes through a rough patch.

Virat Kohli failed to deliver a good performance for India in the first innings of the fifth rescheduled Test against England on July 1 at the Edgbaston, Birmingham. He scored 11 runs off 19 balls, including 2 fours, before being dismissed by young England pacer Matthew Potts.

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Kohli, who has not scored a century for over two years now, has struggled for runs for an extended period of time. Since his last century in 2019, Kohli has scored 842 runs in 31 innings at an average of 28.06. Also, his Test career average has dipped below 50.

Some of the greatest players have been dropped – Kevin Pietersen

Speaking to Sky Cricket at the end of the first session of the 5th Test match between Jasprit Bumrah-led India and Ben Stokes-led England, Pietersen said that Kohli is a great player and an absolute genius of the game.

“The guy is a great player, the guy is a genius. Name me a player that hasn’t gone through a rough patch in his career,” Pietersen said.

“Some of the greatest players have been dropped, they’ve actually just been parked. He’s obviously going to get the pressure, but we’ve all been there, it’s the circle of life, you are never good all the way around that circle,” he added.

Pietersen also showered praise on veteran England pacer James Anderson, who picked the wickets of Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer on Day 1 of the Edgbaston Test.

“There’s nothing you can do. Sometimes you’ve just got to say, ‘it’s the great Jimmy Anderson,’” the former England skipper stated. 

“Jimmy Anderson, on occasions, is just too good. What do you do? You watch (Glenn) McGrath, (Wasim) Akram, (Shaun) Pollock, he’s as good as, if not better, than a lot of those guys, in these conditions in particular,” said Pietersen.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: Apart From The Ball He Got Out, Virat Kohli Looked Really Composed – Graeme Swann

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