India’s star batter Virat Kohli failed to make a mark in the first Test against Bangladesh at Chepauk, returning with scores of 6 and 17 across the two innings.
In the first innings, Kohli was caught behind chasing a ball outside off, while in the second, he failed to pick a fuller-length delivery and was given out LBW.
Kohli’s low scores in Chennai saw his Test average further dipping to 48.74. He currently has 8871 runs to his name from 114 Tests, including 29 hundreds.
The 35-year-old will be determined to turn things around in the second Test against Bangladesh, which got underway in Kanpur on Friday (September 27).
Before the start of the Kanpur Test, former wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel compared Virat Kohli to Joe Root, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, claiming that the rest of the Fab 4 don't face the same pressure as the Indian stalwart.
"I don't think he's feeling that kind of pressure. And as you rightly mentioned that, I don't think Smith or Joe Root or Williamson can even think of the type of pressure he must be feeling.
"The pressure of expectation, that is huge. He has set his standard so high that even if he scores 60 or 70, that comes across as a failure. Because every time he walks in, we expect him to score 100. We expect him to play with that kind of intensity, which he has always been playing," said Parthiv while speaking on JioCinema.
"But you have to understand that he is also getting older but that zeal to play Test cricket and to do well, does not die, and it will never die is as long as Virat Kohli is playing Test cricket. But yeah, I think I don't think he would be feeling that kind of pressure to perform. But the expectation of us is always high because of the standard which he has set," he added.
Former Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal echoed Parthi’s sentiments and also highlighted Kohli’s white-ball records to mention that the former India skipper had won more games for his side single-handedly compared to Smith, Root and Williamson.
"And also, I think yes in Test match cricket, the Fab 4 that we are talking about have done wonders. Because in Test match cricket, basically as a batter, you can't win a game single-handedly. There are two innings and everything."
"But we also call them Fab 4 in white-ball cricket and hands down, in what Kohli has done for India, amount of games that he has won single-handedly, I'm pretty sure none of the other three has won that many of the games. And as you mentioned because of the amount of pressure that he goes through, I think those three combined do not have the similar pressure," said Tamim.
