Virat Kohli is going through a torrid phase in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Although Kohli hit a half-century in RCB’s last outing against GT, he looked far from his best. His 58-run knock came off 53 balls, resulting in RCB’s six-wicket defeat.
In the IPL 2022 so far, Kohli has played 10 innings and managed to amass only 186 runs at an average of 20.67 with only one fifty.
Amid his struggles, Virat Kohli’s former RCB teammate AB de Villiers expressed his sympathy, stating that it is always difficult for a batter to bounce back from bad form.
"As a batsman you are only one or two bad knocks away from bad form," he told AFP in an interview.
"If it keeps coming at you it is difficult to bounce back from it," he added.
AB de Villiers also mentioned that he has not been in touch with Kohli, but the former claimed the struggle in form is primarily a battle of the mind.
"I cannot put a percentage to it but it is the mind and power of the mind which is the main battle," he said.
"You do not become a bad player overnight. Virat would know it and I know it. I think it's the way you think and set your mind.
“You need a clear mind and fresh energy whenever you play and then you can find a way out of a hole,” De Villiers further remarked.
Virat Kohli has now gone 17 Tests, 21 ODIs, 25 T20Is, and 40 IPL games without reaching the three-figure mark. His last hundred in competitive cricket came against Bangladesh in a Test match in November 2019.
