"There is a monkey on his back right now" - Deep Dasgupta feels it is unlike Virat Kohli to not convert starts
Former India wicketkeeper batter Deep Dasgupta believes Virat Kohli has a monkey on his back at the moment. The absence of a three-figure score for such an extended period might be getting at him.
Virat Kohli once again got off to a good start on Day 1 of the Oval Test. He looked good for a big one but nicked one off the bowling of Ollie Robinson soon after reaching his half-century.
Deep Dasgupta pointed out that it has been a strange patch for the Indian skipper, not being able to convert the starts.
Deep Dasgupta said on BBC’s Test Match Special podcast:
“Obviously, there is a monkey on his back right now. Not scoring a hundred for almost two years now. It’s not that he is not getting the starts. He is getting those starts and it’s very unlike him not converting those starts. I think a couple of years ago, he had one of the best conversion rates from 50 to 100. He has to look back and see what he was doing at that point in time.”
The cricketer-turned broadcaster reckons that Virat Kohli would have tried to play his dismissal delivery much straighter if he was in the right frame of mind.
“In the right frame of mind, right form, I don’t think he would have tried to play that at square leg or mid-wicket. He would have tried to play a lot more straighter.”
“It was actually a good delivery” – Deep Dasgupta on Virat Kohli’s dismissal
Deep Dasgupta lauded the way England's seamers bowled on Day 1 of the fourth Test against India. He felt that top-order batters, including Virat Kohli, got out to genuinely good deliveries. However, you might expect them to see off those spells and try to capitalize later in the day.
“England bowled really well. Very disciplined lines. Genuinely good deliveries, the Rohit Sharma (delivery), the Pujara delivery. A little bit of error in judgement from KL Rahul. And then Virat, again, was actually a good delivery (…) But with the kind of experience and talent, you would expect them to see through those good deliveries.”
The openers and the middle-order fell without scoring big runs. No one except for Virat Kohli crossed the 20-run mark. It took a half-century from Shardul Thakur, in the lower order, to propel India’s score to 191 runs.