India’s star batter Virat Kohli has come under scrutiny for his string of low scores in the recently held Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under.

Apart from his second innings hundred (100) at Perth, Kohli registered paltry scores of 5, 7, 11, 3, 36, 5, 17 and 6 across five Test matches.

The age-old problem of fishing outside the off stump led to Kohli’s downfall, with the likes of Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc exploiting his weakness.

Questions have been raised over Kohli’s Test future after his underwhelming display in the BGT 2024-24, which Australia clinched 3-1 for the first time in 10 years.

Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes Virat Kohli will come out of his lean patch and return to form before the next WTC cycle if he plays domestic cricket again.

“Virat Kohli can make a comeback. He can overcome it, there is no doubt about it. If you have determination, made up your mind that you are going to put your efforts into it, spend time, play domestic cricket, play on turning tracks, and seaming tracks, play practice games, and stay regularly in touch," Kaif said in a video posted on X.

Kaif also slammed other senior players of the Indian team, including Rohit Sharma. He reckoned that every international player should take part in domestic cricket and the BCCI must make it mandatory.

Citing the examples of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, who were dropped from the central contracts list for ignoring BCCI’s instruction of playing domestic cricket when not on national duty, Kaif said the management should take harsh calls if any player doesn’t follow this directive.

“It’s BCCI’s work that senior players play domestic cricket. They recently removed Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from their contract list. Somewhere, they need to take a harsh call where people are compelled. If there’s an opportunity and you are available, then don’t sit at home. You have to take that call," Kaif remarked.