On his first tour of Australia, a young and brash Virat Kohli flipped the bird to abusive local fans. It won’t be as easy this summer for him to dismiss the calling of Father Time.
Damningly, eight other Indian batters in this period, who have played a minimum of 20 innings, have a higher average than Kohli. Internationally, he sits 55th. The man they call “King Kohli” is in the company of journeymen. “His judgment of length, whether it’s spin or pace, has gone down,” Manjrekar said. “It’s not as great as it used to be. That comes back to him. He was one of India’s best players of spin, played a lot off the back foot.
In Pune last month, Kohli played around a full toss from Mitchell Santner and was bowled. Former New Zealand captain Ian Smith, stunned by the margin by which Kohli missed the ball, summed up the disbelief in the crowd and the bewilderment on Kohli’s face on commentary, saying the dismissal was so strange it belonged in a museum.
“The clarity at the moment has not been 100 per cent. That comes with pressure, a lack of runs, and he’s not a young 25- to 27-year-old any more.” Kohli is still held in high regard in Australia, in and outside the dressing room. Bookmakers have Kohli as the favourite to be India’s leading run-scorer. One player, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he was always worried about Kohli – that he’s too good a player to keep down.