"He was alone at the top and even now he is alone" - Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra believes only Virat Kohli can help himself get out of the rut he finds himself in.
The former Indian captain hasn't scored a hundred in three years and recently had a poor tour of England with the bat across formats. Kohli has been rested from the ongoing tour of West Indies and Team India will be hoping he returns fresh and pumped up for the Asia Cup.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Chopra stated that the former skipper needs to work on the mental side of things during his break. Here's what the 44-year-old had to say:
"Does Virat Kohli have to work on his technique? I don't think so because he gets off to good starts. But he is not getting hundreds. He might need to work on the mental aspect, or just go away from the game so that he suddenly finds the solutions."
Aakash Chopra believes very few players have achieved what Kohli has in his career so far, which makes his struggles difficult for others to understand. He feels the 33-year-old will benefit from the rest that he has been given and added:
"Most of us haven't played that level of cricket or tasted that success to judge him. He was alone at the top and even now, he is alone. But I would say give time some time so that this time will also change."
Perspective https://t.co/yrNZ9NVePf
Don't think anything will change short-term till the T20 World Cup: Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra has been quite vocal about the way the selectors have rotated the players in the Indian squad, given the packed scheduling of games across formats.
Although fringe players like Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel have performed well of late, he believes first-team players like Kohli will replace them once they return.
Chopra said:
"In the short term, I hope selectors have a clear thought process that they will be giving chances to others while their main players are resting, but these players will vacate the places once the regular ones are back. Perhaps that's why Deepak Hooda isn't getting many chances despite scoring so many runs."
However, Chopra has also claimed that in due course of time, the selectors might change their thought process and added:
"The way Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav are scoring runs, they might feel, over a period of time, that these players are doing better. But in the short term, I don't think anything will change since the T20 World Cup is just around the corner."
India have a great chance of trying out a few more players for the final ODI against West Indies, set to be played on Wednesday, July 27.