Former India captain Virat Kohli is set to return to the Indian team for the upcoming Asia Cup tournament in the United Arab Emirates later this month. Kohli, who has struggled with the bat, has been chastised for opting to rest for the recent West Indies tour and the upcoming Zimbabwe One-Day Internationals. However, with the 33-year-old returning for the Asia Cup tournament, experts expect Kohli to make a strong comeback, especially with India facing Pakistan in their opening match. However, ahead of the big game, former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed has made a bold claim, comparing Kohli to Babar Azam.
Speaking on Paktv.tv, Javed stated that technically sound batters such as Babar, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root rarely go through a dry spell as long as Kohli, who has now gone 993 days without scoring an international century.
Javed believes that with Virat Kohli changing his technique during his struggles, he has become aware of his weakness and can only overcome it by batting freely and playing a big knock.
“Great players fall into two categories. One type of player is one who, if they get stuck, their rough patch lasts a long time. Others, such as Babar Azam, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root, are technically sound players whose rough patches cannot last forever. It is difficult to identify their flaws. Virat Kohli gets hung up on those deliveries outside off stump from time to time. James Anderson has hit that target a million times.
I was watching him bat the other day and noticed that he is now consciously trying not to play those deliveries from a distance. These issues will arise if you change your technique. To get out of it, he can try to play a big knock while unconscious. That will allow him to maintain a purple patch for an extended period,” he explained.
Kohli enjoys playing against Pakistan, particularly in T20Is. In seven innings, he has 311 runs scored at 77.75 with three fifties. In this rivalry, no other batter has scored even 200 runs.
“If Kohli fails to perform and India loses, they will be in a similar situation to us.” Then the question of why they didn’t cast an in-form Deepak Hooda arises. “However, even out-of-form batters tend to find a rhythm on UAE pitches,” Javed added.
India will face Pakistan on August 28 at the Dubai International Stadium, the same venue where the Men in Blue were defeated by Pakistan by a 10-wicket margin in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
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