Former India skipper Virender Sehwag believes that Virat Kohli’s bad days are over and he would be eager to score big in the rescheduled Test against England.
Kohli not scoring a century since 2019 has been the biggest talk of the town. It isn’t exactly that he’s out of form but the former Indian Test skipper has been failing to convert his starts into big scores after doing all the hard work.
He also has been at the receiving end of criticism for not scoring a century for a while. Many fans and pundits have raised concerns over his form and feel that his numbers in the last three years are not promising as per a player of his calibre.
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His struggle was quite evident in the recently concluded IPL 2022. He did score a couple of fifties but it’s fair to say that the right-hander looked completely out of touch. Kohli scored 341 runs at an average of 22.73 in 16 matches and also bagged three ducks in the tournament.
Now, after a short break, Virat Kohli is back with the Indian Test side for the game against England. He recently played a four-day warm-up match against Leicestershire ahead of the one-off Test against England.
Kohli looked in great touch and had a decent outing in both the innings as he smashed 33 runs in the first essay and followed it up with a 67 in the second dig.
Speaking to Sony’s pre-match show ‘Extra Innings’, Virender Sehwag said that Kohli himself would be eager to score big in the Edgbaston Test.
The former Indian skipper feels that Kohli’s bad days are over and his good days have already started as he looked good in the warm-up fixture.
“Do you remember when was the last time, Kohli scored a century? Even I don’t remember. He would definitely want that he score big in this Edgbaston Test which is the series decider.
“I think his bad days are over. Ab lagta hai behtar din ayenge and they have already started. He has scored fifty in both the innings,” Virender Sehwag said.
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Citing his own example, Sehwag said that Kohli took a glimpse of how much swing wickets are offering and he has saved 100-150 runs for the final Test.
“When I used to play practice matches, my aim was to play as much as balls as possible so that you know how much it is offering swing. I think he has done that.
“Don’t score everything in this practice match. Save something for Test match. I think he has saved 100-150 for that big game. And I am sure he will score big,” he said.
Indian team on Sunday (26th June) suffered a major blow as skipper Rohit Sharma tested positive for Covid-19 and his participation in the final game against England has been put in doubt.
There are many speculations about who’ll captain the side and also no vice-captain has been named.
Sehwag opined that Kohli must captain against England in the fifth Test if Rohit Sharma misses out.
“Yes, the vice captain will get the chance to captain, but if there is no official announcement, you can request Virat Kohli to come and captain the team,” he said.
If Rohit is ruled out of the final game, Pant or Bumrah are likely be handed leadership responsibility.
(Extra Innings inputs)
