After a short break, Indian cricketing legend, Virat Kohli is all set to return to cricket with the Asia Cup 2022. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has backed Kohli to regain his best form in the upcoming Asia Cup 2022.
Kohli is going through a lean patch as he failed to create big runs in IPL 2022 and England tour. Kohli has not scored a single century in last 2 years. He scored his last international century way back in 2019. Also, Kohli has missed several series this year. The selectors rested him for South Africa T20Is, West Indies, and Zimbabwe tours.
The Asia Cup 2022 gives a chance for redemption for Virat Kohli. He can finally manifest his performance after giving India’s tours of the West Indies and Zimbabwe a miss.
Shastri feels that big players go through such a phase and they need time and work to reflect on the things which didn’t work in their favor.
Shastri in a press conference stated-
“I haven’t spoken to him but it’s not rocket science. Big players wake up in due course. They need a break; mental fatigue can creep into the best in the world. There is not a single player in world cricket who has not gone through a bad patch and I am sure this downtime is not just for the body, it’s time to reflect. He would have reflected on what things he could have done better,”
In the press conference, Kohli stated that he has adopted the mental approach and has been training hard for the tournament. Kohli tried to embrace the same on the England tour but failed to score big.
Kohli said-
“What happened in England (in 2014) was a pattern, so something that I could work on and something that I had to kind of overcome,” he is quoted as saying on ‘Game Plan’.
-- Advertisement --“Right now, as you rightly mentioned, there is nothing that you can point out saying that the problem is happening here. So, that for me, is an easier thing to process because I know that I’m batting well and at times, when I start feeling that rhythm back, then I know that I’m batting well. So, that for me is not an issue, which wasn’t the case in England; I didn’t feel like I was batting well at all. So, I had to work hard on one thing that could be exposed again and again which I overcame; right now this is not the case.”
The former India head coach backed Kohli and mentioned that his half-century in the opening match will silence h is critics.
Shastri stated the following-
“He will come back with a calmer mind because the heat is off. You have been away. Now, what you do will get the tone. He gets a fifty in the very first game, and mouths will be shut for the rest of the tournament. What’s happened in the past is history. Remember, public memory is very short. So it works both ways. His opportunity here is to get that calmness and then take it one day at a time,” he pointed out.
Rohit Sharma and Co will begin their Asia Cup campaign with a clash against Pakistan on Sunday (August 28) in Dubai.
