Former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris said that Virat Kohli should take a complete break from the game for a little while and come back stronger. He believes that the right-hander will not gain a lot even if he plays against Zimbabwe on the upcoming tour.
Kohli has been under the scanner for a while now following his continuous failures with the bat. The right-hander is receiving a lot of flak for his dry spell and there have been calls even to drop him from the Indian side.
Kohli, who scored his last international century in 2019, is now struggling to score even a half-century. In the recent tour of England, the former Indian skipper failed miserably, scoring only 45 runs across two T20Is, and two ODIs he played and had scored 11 and 20 in the one-off Test played.
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The right-hander has been rested for the ongoing tour of the West Indies. Many reports suggested that selectors are now keen to send Kohli to Zimbabwe so that he can return to form ahead of the all-important T20 World Cup 2022.
Speaking to Sports 18’s show ‘Sports over the top’, Scott Styris said: "Firstly, I loved hearing what a selector goes through in the process that they don't just simply pick a team or pick the best players. There's a real methodology around how they go about putting a team together. I can tell you there are plenty of times I wish I could have a conversation with our selectors back here in New Zealand about certain things.”
Styris said that the Zimbabwe series is a "lose-lose" for Virat Kohli because even if he plays and scores a hundred it won't matter much in terms of the T20 World Cup.
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"So, I loved hearing that, but I'm with you a hundred percent. I think it is a lose-lose for Kohli. I'd love to see him take a complete break from the game for a little while and come back. Asked the question as selectors and coach Rahul Dravid, I think he's got a big part to plan as to how much preparation time you need to be at a hundred percent when the world cup starts and then work backward from there and then build that schedule that Saba was talking about," he said.
"So yeah, Zimbabwe, I'd forget about it because I don't necessarily think there's a lot to gain from him. He might score a cheap hundred, which goes great for confidence, but doesn't necessarily change too much moving forward because I still believe he's the key man for India," he said.
It remains to be seen if Kohli will be with the touring party to Zimbabwe or not. His returning to form will be one of the biggest positives for Team India, especially with Asia Cup and T20 World Cup around the corner.
(Sports18 inputs)
