Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble feels Virat Kohli is putting a “lot more pressure on himself” in his effort to get out of the lean patch, and advised the baittng icon to remain mentally relaxed. Since the 2023 ODI World Cup, Kohli has hit just one fifty while scoring 137 runs in six ODI innings. “I think he’s trying a bit too hard. You can see that in the way he is going about his innings. He just needs to not worry about it,” Kumble said on ‘ESPNcricinfo’. “Rohit comes in there, has the freedom because there is plenty of batting and all of them are in great form. Similarly for Virat, he just needs to come in and not worry about anything else,” he added.
“All players go through tough moments in their career, but I get a feeling watching him bat, I think he is putting a lot more pressure on himself,” Kumble added.
Kumble reckoned a relaxed approach would help Kohli in getting out of the rut.
“When you have that kind of pressure and you have that kind of expectation, you suddenly start putting undue importance to all of that and then try hard to do well.
“When you do that, you’re not really relaxed. The best innings that I am sure he’s played, he’s not even thinking about all of that.”
In India’s Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh, Kohli struggled to score, and was eventually dismissed on 22 by leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, making it the Indian’s sixth consecutive dismissal against spin.
“To start off against spin, on surfaces like that, you need a lot of confidence. He’s certainly trying too hard to manoeuvre that. He’s a good player of spin when he’s in form, when he wants to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike.
“Now he’s trying too hard to score runs rather than just manoeuvre, and that’s been his game plan. He just needs to relax a little bit and not worry too much about the outcome of what happens on the field rather than just go out there and have the freedom to play naturally, what he does really well.”
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said Kohli’s lean run in Australia has left him in a “tight corner,” affecting his confidence.
“He still wants to show that he’s up there for a fight, and I am starting to see maybe there’s a little bit of bravado as well, and why not? You can’t be revealing what’s inside you.” He suggested that Kohli might no longer possess the big-hitting ability to dominate bowlers at will.
“Virat doesn’t have the big game anymore. We’ve seen on occasion him playing the big shot, but he can’t hit at will like a Shubman Gill does.” Kohli made an unbeaten 100 in the second innings in the first Test in Australia in Perth, but has struggled in the rest of the series.
“What happened is, after that hundred in Australia, had he just carried on that form… you know it’s a confidence thing as well – when you’re out of form and you don’t have confidence you suddenly don’t quite get that power and the courage to hit the big shots. At this stage, I’m looking at him and feel that he is down on confidence.” Kohli’s struggles against spin encouraged the slow bowlers to be aggressive against him, feels Manjrekar.
“When he comes into bat, the spinners come on. And once the spinners know that you’re not going to be hitting them for three sixes straight down the pitch or over midwicket… they bowl the kind of deliveries they’ll get wickets off because they don’t fear backlash from the batter.
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“So he’s cornered in a way. What he needed in this tournament are flat pitches like the ones in Pakistan. But if he finds a way out of this and he finds another peak of Virat Kohli, that will tell you a lot more about the man and how he’s built,” he added.