Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has backed Virat Kohli to come good and regain his form in the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 tournament given that he’ll return to the Indian side after a decently long break from the game.
Kohli will be returning after a break, having skipped India's tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe, and the belief is that this-month long hiatus will be enough for the former India captain to recapture his lost mojo and be ready.
When Virat Kohli steps onto the field with the Indian team in their Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan in Dubai on August 28, it will be his 100th T20I match, making him only the second Indian to reach that milestone after Rohit Sharma.
Talking about Kohli’s return, Shastri said that this version of the batter would be a lot calmer, more assured, and one with no baggage, thanks to the long break he has gotten.
"I haven't spoken to him but it's not rocket science. Big players wake up in due course. They need a break; mental fatigue can creep in to the best in the world. There is a not a single player in world cricket who has not gone through a bad patch and I am sure this downtime is not just for the body, it's time to reflect. He would have reflected as to what things he could have done better," Shastri said in a press conference organised by Star Sports, the official broadcaster of Asia Cup 2022.
He added: "What he didn't do right? What things he did absolutely right and should keep focusing on that. What he allowed to come into his mindset that was just not required or relevant? All these things come into play. You get an opportunity to then decide, what is the future course of action. Whether it is shot selection, or it is how you plan, when to shift gears, should I give himself more time. And now it is time for him to execute those plans."
Notably, Virat Kohli is yet to score an international century since November 2019 and his last international half-century came way back in February, after which Kohli has looked like a pale shadow of his former self, repeatedly falling to the outside the off-stump trap and failing to put up big scores.
However, Shastri is confident that Kohli would return back to his old self refreshed.
"He will come back with a calmer mind, because the heat is off. You have been away. Now, what you do will get the tone. He gets a fifty in the very first game, mouths will be shut for the rest of the tournament. What's happened in the past is history. Remember, public memory is very short. So it works both ways. His opportunity here is to get that calmness and then take it one day at a time," he pointed out.
