I didn’t feel like I was batting well: Virat Kohli reflects on England tour ahead of Asia Cup return

All eyes are on Virat Kohli as the 33-year-old will return to the 22-yard cricket strip during the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 edition in the UAE. India open their campaign against arch rivals Pakistan in Dubai, with an aim to settle scores with the Babar Azam-led Men in Green following their ten-wicket defeat in the last face-off during the 2021 T20 World Cup. 

For India to do well, they will need Kohli to return to form at the earliest. The former Indian captain has been away from action since the end of the England tour, where he failed to score even a half-century across formats.

ALSO READ | Asia Cup: Reminiscing Virat Kohli’s career-defining 183 versus Pakistan in 2012 edition

Kohli returned with only 76 runs in the England tour, which included the one-off Test, two ODIs and T20Is each. Recently, the superstar cricketer opened up on his batting struggles in England and admitted that he wasn’t batting well (where he was continuously falling to deliveries pitched on the fourth/fifth-stump line).

“What happened in England was a pattern, so something that I could work on and something that I had to kind of overcome,” Kohli revealed on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’. “Right now, as you rightly mentioned, there is nothing that you can point out saying that the problem is happening here.”

“So, that for me, is actually an easier thing to process because I know that I’m batting well and at times, when I start feeling that rhythm back, then I know that I’m batting well. So, that for me is not an issue, which wasn’t the case in England; I didn’t feel like I was batting well at all. So, I had to work hard on one thing that could be exposed again and again which I overcame; right now this is not the case,” he added.

Kohli will play his 100th T20I when India face Pakistan in their Asia Cup opener on Sunday (August 28) in Dubai. Will he announce his return in style? Only time will tell…