Analysing Virat Kohli's slump in form
Can you really call what Kohli is going through now ‘a slump’? Check out this piece of statistic and you will see that his average has dipped quite a bit in 2015 as compared to his career earlier.
Sanjay Manjrekar has continously pointed out that Kohli’s trigger movement is what is causing him to end up on off stump and poking at deliveries on 6th stump. His slump has reached such a point that even Aakash Chopra had words of wisdom for Virat in how his insistence on waiting on the front foot is the cause of all the trouble.
I have a different view however.
If you remember Virat from his early days (till quite recently in fact), what separated him from the other batsmen was his ability to keep going and rotate strike early in his innings, build a steady platform and then let his wrists do the talking once they were at their fluent best. For the elegant stroke maker that Virat is, and how he seems to possess a superior game to most of his contemporaries, what set him apart for me was his restraint – his ability to get his eye in before really going after any bowling.
But, ever since he has become this run machine – this monster batsman who destroys bowlers (remember the Malinga over?), he seems to have forgotten how the much more successful, much more patient his younger self used to be in contstructing an innings.
Now let’s not say that it’s all the aggression that is affecting his game – No! He was ultra aggressive even as a youngster when he was scoring ton after ton. So much so that at one point he seemed to be heading in the same direction as Sreesanth – swearing at every soul he could find on the field (and away).
What seems to have changed although is that sagely focus and intent he used to show well into his 50s & 60s early in his career. Infact, he used to play slow run a ball innings (by then standards) till 90s and then he would take off. And that, seems to be missing in the Virat of today.
Perhaps even over burdened by all this talk of being the best batsman in the world, Kohli now plays expansive cover drives early in his innings. He pulls, hooks, flicks and even sweeps before he reaches a 50. Now, I know people evolve, and that batsmen change their game according to situations and times, but I think this might be the one small thing that Virat could look at. You know, just wait till you reach 50 to maybe play that expansive cover drive next time!
I write this partly because I really miss a long Kohli innings and all of us know the Proteas are here from October.