Former Pakistani spinner Mushtaq Ahmed has opened up about the ongoing struggles of Virat Kohli to score runs and recalled how something similar happened with one of England’s best batters Jonathan Trott and compared the two situations.
In the second ODI of the series on Thursday – Kohli's comeback game after he was forced to miss the first match due to a groin injury – the star batter's poor run continued as he was dismissed on 16. India went on to lose the match by 100 runs chasing 247 to win at Lord’s.
This meant Kohli is yet to cross the 20-run mark in the tour of England; in five innings, he registered scores of 11 and 20 (rescheduled fifth Test), 1 and 11 (two T20Is), and 16.
Mushtaq Ahmed shared his two cents analyzing Kohli’s barren run with the bat. Ahmed was spin-bowling coach of the English team from 2008 until 2014 and recalled the similar struggles of Jonathan Trott.
“He's one of the best players in the world. I remember at one point, Jonathan Trott was scoring a lot of runs for England. Then came a period when he just couldn't score runs, there could've been family issues, mindset, exhaustion, or any other factor for that. Our biggest mistake was that we didn't drop him,” Ahmed said in an interview with Cricket Pakistan.
Jonathan Trott’s blossoming cricketing career came to a halt in 2013 when he returned home from Australia in the middle of Ashes down under struggling with travel-related stress and anxiety. He eventually failed to make a successful comeback to the English side and eventually retired from the game in 2015.
Ahmed then suggested that Kohli needs a solid 3-4 months break from cricket and clear his mind and come back refreshed.
“In such a situation, Virat Kohli will have to skip a big series. He has to take a 3-4 month break from cricket. When I used to be dropped, or even rested and watched my teammates on television, it affected my mindset positively. You become more intense in your training,” the former Pakistan spinner further said.
"If Virat returns after three months, he would forget that he has scored 27 centuries in Tests or 40+ centuries in ODIs. Then, he would make a fresh start and the concentration levels will go high. When someone is hungry, they would relish the food even more. It's the same with cricket. When you come back after 3-4 months, your energy level and mindset would be completely changed,” he added.
