Explained: What is going wrong with Virat Kohli's Test batting?
Senior Team India batter Virat Kohli has been going through a very lean patch in Test cricket over the last few years and not much has changed this season. If we look at his recent performances, he has crossed the half-century mark only once in his last nine innings. As for his overall Test performance in 2024, the former India captain has 249 runs in six Tests at an average of just under 25.
If we dig deeper into his Test travails, Kohli has featured in 34 Test matches (59 innings) since the start of 2020 in which he has scored 1,837 runs at an average of 32.22, with two hundreds and nine fifties. Before this phase, the right-hander had played 84 Tests in which he had amassed 7,202 runs at an average of 54.97, with the aid of 27 hundreds and 22 half-centuries.
Although statistics always do not present the full story, the stark difference in Kohli's post-2020 Test numbers are proof enough of the fact that his red-ball skills have been on the decline. In this feature, we try and analyze what exactly is going wrong with the batter who was at one point absolutely dominant in the format.
Virat Kohli's home vs away Test stats since 2020
Some fans and experts reckon that Kohli's struggles are specifically related to home Tests. However, if we compare his home vs away red-ball stats since the start of 2020, there is not much of a difference.
During this phase, he has played 16 Tests at home (26 innings) and has scored 777 runs at an average of 31.08, with one ton and three fifties. Even the century he got was on a barren pitch in Ahmedabad.
As for his away Test record since 2020, the batter has featured in 16 matches (29 innings) and has scored 940 runs at an average of 33.57, with one hundred and six fifties. Kohli's three-figure score came against West Indies in Port of Spain in July 2023.
Spin woes one of the key factors behind Virat Kohli's decline as a Test batter
There have been plenty of discussions among experts over the former India captain's constant struggles at home against spin. And stats document this fact in a rather solid manner, and a rather worrying one for Indian fans.
As per a report in Outlook, since the start of 2020, Kohli has been dismissed 25 times in 37 innings against spinners. Also, 22 of his 27 dismissals in Asia since 2020 have been against spinners. (Note: Stats are from before the start of the India vs New Zealand Test in Mumbai).
In the Pune Test, the star batter, who will turn 36 on November 5, was bowled for one by a full toss from New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner. In the second innings, he was trapped leg before by the same bowler, with an arm ball that skidded on after pitching. Even in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test, it was off-spinner Glenn Phillips who had him caught behind with a flatter ball.
The story is pretty much the same if we keep going back. In the two-match home series against Bangladesh in September-October, he was trapped leg before by Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the second innings in Chennai, while left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan bowled him for 47 in the first innings in Kanpur.
Over the last few years, the likes of Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Moeen Ali, and Jack Leach, among others, have troubled Kohli quite a bit in home conditions. And this is a rather disappointing fact. With all due respect to the above names, not a single bowler falls in the category of exceptionally good ones, leave aside great. The likes of Murphy and Kuhnemann are yet to establish themselves.
Running out of time and ideas?
If we talk about running between the wickets, Kohli is undoubtedly among the best across formats. However, in his last two Test innings, he has been involved in two run-outs, which again is something rather worrisome.
In the second innings against New Zealand in Pune, the former India captain and Rishabh Pant went for a very risky single, resulting in the run-out of the latter. In the first innings in the ongoing Mumbai Test, he took off for a non-existent single and ran himself out as Matt Henry scored a direct hit from mid-on.
Both the above instances make one wonder whether poor form with the willow clouded his judgment when it came to running between the wickets. While many critics reckon that Kohli is well past his prime, the tour of Australia will give us a fair idea of whether his batting decline has got more to do with his growing discomfort against spin or is a much more worrying case of overall diminishing skills.