Since returning to the Indian team in the Asia Cup 2022 after a month-long break, former India captain Virat Kohli has been batting amazingly well, having rediscovered his golden touch.
He scored his first T20I century against Afghanistan in the tournament apart from two other fifties. Kohli started off with a composed 35-run knock in the first game against Pakistan, in the group stage, and then scored two consecutive half-centuries, one against Hong and another against Pakistan in the super4s stage of the Asia Cup 2022.
Speaking on Virat Kohli’s resurgence, former India fielding coach R Sridhar said that the break has done a lot of good to Kohli and he has come back mentally rested and with renewed energy.
“He is in a better space now. Like he admitted himself, he was probably not in the right frame of mind and now has got it in the right place. The break has done him wonders; the time spent with his family has done him wonders. And we saw what he could do right in the first game against Pakistan in the Asia Cup,” Sridhar told Cricket.com.
And during the recent T20I series against the world champs Australia, Kohli made 63 runs in the series-deciding T20I in Hyderabad.
He played a supporting role to Suryakumar Yadav in that innings, whose 69 runs were the reason India managed to win that match and pocketed the series 2-1. His timely return has made the Indian team fans confident he is back to being his old self and his form has returned that made him one of the modern batting greats.
"After seeing him bat from ringside in Hyderabad, you can well and truly say that the king is back. Great mindset. He is fielding like a panther and his batting is brilliant. All in all, it augurs extremely well for Indian cricket going into the World Cup," he added.
India did brilliantly in the recent T20I series against Australia, winning it 2-1, and will now play South Africa in three T20Is and three ODIs starting with the first T20I in Trivandrum on September 28.
