Virat Kohli-Once A Prima Donna Of Test Cricket Is Now Diminishing Slowly

Virat Kohli-Once A Prima Donna Of Test Cricket Is Now Diminishing Slowly

22 November 2019 was the last time we saw the man who is the main reason that test cricket is still relevant in India & world at the epitome of his red-ball cricketing skills, it was against Bangladesh in electrifying Eden Gardens, Kolkata in a day/night test match where rest of his counterparts were having a thin time facing the ball under the evening glories of Calcutta the pink peach was having a ‘Ball’ of a time there, every pacer was just like prime Brett Lee not because of their temperament or skills but because of the nature the game was taking place.

There came the then purple-patched Kohli at no.4 to rescue India’s one more premature collapse. The cover drives were as clear as crystals, the pull was as strong as an elephant's teeth, and the defence was as solid as a wall.

Virat Kohli In Pink Ball Test Match Against Bangladesh In 2019

Kohli scored 136 off 194 deliveries to become the first Indian to score a century in a pink-ball test match. Since this amazing ‘VIRAT’ knock by the maestro, many things have changed. It has gone downhill…. acute downhill for Kohli after the COVID era in tests.

From 2020 to 2022 time period in which Kohli played 36 test matches he averaged a mere 26.5 lower than almost all the players playing the test match for India at that time period. Then in 2023, he made 2 centuries again after the drought of almost 4 years 1 against Australia in Home BGT and the other one against West Indies in West Indies in his 500th international appearance for India. But the constant runs were still missing from him just like the previous few years, but the worst came in 2024 where he is averaging 19.3 from the 5 matches he has played till now this year.

Many are citing his lack of focus and discipline due to his commercial commitments and Ad shoots as a reason behind this downfall, whereas many are saying that Kohli's continuous travelling to London with his wife & children is also a reason behind this poor run of his in the white jersey.

( To elaborate our readers about this London Matter More, the rumours are continuously suggesting that Kohli has shifted to London permanently with his family and hence left India due to security & privacy reasons. )

India vs New Zealand: Moving our eyes towards the recent happenings Virat Kohli faced the ire on social media following his poor shot selection at Pune in the first essay. Kohli walked into bat after Shubman Gill perished early. It seemed like Kohli was taking his time, but on the ninth ball he faced — he tried to do something extravagant and that led to his downfall. Kohli perished for one off nine balls. It was actually a low full toss that slides on towards middle stump from Mitchell Santner. A very unlike hoick across the line from Kohli and he plays the wrong line as the ball sneaks under his bat as well.

 

Virat Missing On A Full Toss

Kohli’s massive downfall in the last 4 years

Let’s be really honest, Virat Kohli is a pale shadow of himself in the game’s longest format. Gone are the days when he used to churn out double hundreds for fun in Test cricket, gone are the days when he had 27 Test tons and averaged nearly 55. Till 2019, Kohli was at the peak of his powers as he used to churn out runs across continents. However, the downfall began in 2020 when Covid arrived. Prior to that, the former skipper of the team was the best batter on the planet and was simply untouchable. However, post-2019, he had a massive decline, at least in Tests.

The numbers clearly tell the entire story, facts don’t lie. The decline started in 2020, however, in that year, Kohli only played 3 Tests. The real downfall started in 2021 when the legendary batter played 11 Tests and scored only 536 runs.

2022 saw Kohli’s average once again go down as he averaged just 26.50 and after the England Test, he took a break from the game. The numbers increased in 2023, as a rejuvenated Kohli outscored his peers and racked up two centuries and played a brilliant knock of 76 Vs South Africa on a spicy deck.

 

Virat’s Stats In Test Cricket From Past 4 Years

All said and done Border Gavaskar Trophy is right on the cards from next month and we all hope that Kohli finds his shin again just like he did in the 2014 tour after the horrendous away England tour.

We here at Apna Cricket Team will dissect the squad for the Australia tour from the perspective of #fantasycricket in our next blog piece.

📌Our AI CHATBOT named ‘APNA AI SAATHI🧑🏼‍💻’ helps us to make our best playing XI with the help of the player’s stats and data fed in our system with details of the ground to get involved in making of the fantasy teams by our APNA AI Saathi

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