Impactful game or impactful name: Fans and experts continue to stay divided on Virat Kohli’s place in the team

There is an old saying which reads “change is the only constant” and this is what seems to be the case with Virat Kohli and his cricketing career. When Virat when through a rough patch in 2014 on India’s tour to England, many believed that they will never see the former Indian captain this vulnerable again. After that tour, Virat transformed himself, brought heaps of changes into his game, and dominated the game of cricket for almost 6 long years. The impact of his game was such that he in many ways changed how the game was being played all across the globe.

A batsman averaging 50 across all formats, decimating bowlers for fun, and churning out a century almost every match is something that the world just watched in surprise. With 70 international centuries to his name, Virat Kohli was being touted as the man who could chase down Sachin Tendulkar’s mammoth tally of 100 international centuries. When asked about his 2014 tour to England, Kohli said that he doesn’t feel that he will ever hit a rough patch like that again, but things were soon to change.

The pandemic struck in 2020 and cricket went to a halt. With normalcy starting to return, India toured Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the first Test match itself, the Aussies bundled India out of 36. Virat himself was poor with the bat and little did anybody know that this was just the beginning of a long period of low scores.  Since this tour, Virat’s invincible aura has taken a beating. Serious beating. Once plenty, the runs have dried up. The situation has gone to an extent, that his place in the team is under the scanner. 

As of now, it doesn’t seem like there is a technical flaw to his batting, cricketing legends and experts of the game have tried hard to decode what is wrong with the former Indian skipper but have failed to point out any major gaps in his gameplay. With the T20I World Cup just around the corner and the likes of Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson, and others doing extremely well with the limited chances that they have, Virat’s place looks a bit unsure in the multi-nation event.

In the 2nd T20, he played his part in India’s newfound attacking approach, tried to play a nothing shot, and perished in the process. Among many of his dismissals these days, you would see Virat smiling, looking to the skies, nodding his head, or dropping it while walking. These gestures aren’t because of disappointment – that’s secondary and comes with every dismissal.

Indian great Kapil Dev has now called out Virat Kohli and has said that team India should rather back players in form and not the ones who completely look off-color. He has been getting some support from the likes of Venkatesh Prasad and Virendra Sehwag, but Kohli fans have been criticizing them and have termed their opinions as insensitive.

After the third T20I match, Rohit backed Virat Kohli and cleared the air saying that there is no question about Virat losing his side to anybody else as he prefers quality over quantity.