Asia Cup 2022: Kohli will be mentally and physically fresh ahead of tournament – Shane Watson

According to Australia all-rounder, Shane Watson, Virat Kohli will be mentally and physically rejuvenated after coming back from a month-long break from cricket ahead of the Asia Cup.

Kohli is currently off-coloured and enduring a lean phase of his career. He is yet to score a century in international cricket since November 2019.

In the upcoming, India vs Pakistan match on August 28, the focus will be on the star batter as he will return to cricket after missing out on the series against the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

“Having time off for him certainly, would (help him) just be able to regenerate mentally, physically, just be able to get away from the game of cricket,” Watson said on the ICC Review Show.

“You could just see that his energy was a bit sapped, even during the IPL. You could tell, no matter how much he tried – he was always up and about, but you could see the light was just out a tiny bit,” he added.

Kohli played his last match during the England tour where he could manage just 76 runs from six innings across formats, which included the rescheduled fifth Test, two ODIs, and as many T20s in July.

“This month that he’s had off cricket will make sure that that light’s shining very bright going into this Asia Cup, knowing there’s a T20 World Cup in Australia coming up very soon as well.

“So when you’re able to have a break, and because the Indian cricketers in particular play so much cricket, for Virat to be able to have some time off, especially a month, that’s just going to regenerate everything he needs to be able to take stock of what happened, freshen up mentally and physically.”

Watson said Kohli is a quality player who will eventually return to form.

“He’s too good not to be able to find his groove. It’ll only take him a couple of balls, get into the battle again, and away he goes.”

India will open its Asia Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday.

(Inputs from PTI)

Latest Cricket News