Veteran India batter Virat Kohli failed to convert his start to a significant score as he got out for 45 on Day 1 of the opening Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali.
Playing his 100th Test match, Kohli was looking set for a big one but left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya got the ball to spin just enough to disturb his off-stump.
After Kohli’s wicket, the talks of his century drought once again became the talk of the town. The Indian batting great hasn’t hit a ton in international cricket since November 2019.
WATCH – Virat Kohli gets a rousing reception as he walks into bat in his 100th Test match
“I am not able to get a big score and something that I need to be mindful of and try and build on starts that I have got in the recent past and convert it into big scores,” Kohli said after the day’s play.
Citing the challenges of a modern-day cricketer in the post-COVID world, the former skipper said there’s no space to work on your game.
"Lot of things have changed since Covid happened. We also have to understand that we play regularly in bubbles and we are always involved in cricket. It’s very difficult to get away from it. If you want to go back and work on your game, then you have to consider going back and coming back to be in quarantine for five days and then sit in a hotel room where all the progress means nothing," Kohli stated.
"It’s not been an easy environment to get away from the game and get time to work on things. It has been challenging in how you follow your processes and certainly not follow the processes that you did before and you don’t really have time to work on things and fine tune a few things and switch off from the game and come back fresh," he added.
The Mohali Test against Sri Lanka also marked Virat Kohli’s first as non-captain after he led the side for 68 Tests.
Speaking on the same line, Kohli said he felt like making his debut in this Test match.
"I had butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t realise the magnitude of the event till things got closer to today," he said.
"Even before I became captain, I have always been a responsible player and took responsibility in different things. Obviously, captaincy brings in a lot more responsibility and the mindset was exactly the same even when I was the captain."
"From a worldly point, people look at milestones and they talk about a lot of things and are just conversations on the outside. I know for a fact that I have been involved in big partnerships for the team. Everyone has different points of view and if people are not getting to see me get those big scores, it’s probably down to one’s own expectations and not me and standards of which have not been set randomly," he added.
(With TOI inputs)
