IND vs ENG 2021: Admit it or not, Virat Kohli's in a run slump
Sam Curran celebrated, and how. He managed to get Virat Kohli to nick one to the the chaps behind him, and the Indian skipper walked with dejection written all over his face.
And for all that, Virat Kohli had himself to blame. Expert opinions and harsh criticism weren't far away. Some made sense, some were rants, some were sympathetic and some were just keyboard warriors going berserk.
But that doesn't change the fact that Kohli is experiencing a slump. It's like that odd fever that doesn't dent you badly but doesn't let you be healthy either. His scores of 0, 42 and 20 aren't exactly Kohli-esque.
With this, the wait continues for the talismanic bat, who has gone 49 innings without a century across all three formats. His last Test ton came in 2019 against Bangladesh in Kolkata. 2020 was a century drought for the Delhi batsman.
Out of form Virat Kohli is a bit of a worry for India
India needs Virat Kohli to fire and as far as flaws go, consider what former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar had to offer while talking on Sony Sports Network:
"That method has been successful for him. He's got 8,000 Test runs with that back and across movement. But he is playing at deliveries way outside off stump and a little too early in the innings. This time around, the foot is somewhere else, the bat is somewhere else, which means that he hasn’t really played well. It could be about this much-talked-about word intent but in a five-day game, every batsman goes in to score runs. It’s the method that differs."
That's one. The other is the possibility of Kohli trying to play and not getting leg-before in the process. Or it was just deliveries that would trap the best of the batsmen.
That said, the lack of runs from the run-machine is bound to hurt India. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have been amongst the runs giving the hosts starts, but Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane's one-off knocks followed by a lull just added more pressure on the skipper, who has been rather inconsistent himself.
Irrespective of the result at Lord's, India will hope for a better outing from their captain. Even though Virat Kohli has had a rather average outings in recent Tests, he still boasts an impeccable record of 7547 runs in 93 matches at an average of 51.69, scoring 27 centuries and 25 fifties.
His scores in the five matches he played in the horrendous 2018 series against read 149, 51, 23,17, 97, 103, 46, 58, 49 and 0. He topped the run charts with 593 from five matches at an average of 59.30. India lost 4-1, but their skipper nailed it with the willow.
There are three more Tests to go, and with a bit of a breather ahead of the third Test starting August 25, Kohli will have a good week to iron out the wrinkles.