MS Dhoni: Big knock around the corner for Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli walks back after his innings of 40 against England in the 3rd ODI at Trent Bridge

Speaking on the back of India’s win against England in the 3rd One Day International match of the bilateral series, Indian captain MS Dhoni, surprised with the Trent Bridge pitch assisting spin bowling, expressed faith on his star batsman Virat Kohli returning back to form soon.

“Virat is in a bad patch but he is an aggressive player who has the fighter’s attitude. He has been middling the balls and it is only that he could not convert the starts into big ones. I can say that a big knock is around the corner from Virat,” said the 33-year-old.

With the exception of his 71 in the warm-up game against Middlesex, the Delhi cricketer has not scored a single half-century in the tour so far. Kohli raised hopes of ending his wretched run by scoring a promising 40, before being caught at mid-on in the third ODI after failing to keep an intended flick down.

Despite Kohli’s wicket, India safely reached home in the chase of 228 with 6 wickets to spare with Ambati Rayudu remaining unbeaten on 64. Ajinkya Rahane (45) and Suresh Raina (42) made valuable contributions to cap off a successful outing after the spinners set the game up for the batsmen.

Surprised with the track

England were cruising at one stage with an 82-run opening stand between Alex Hales and Alastair Cook. Surprisingly, the strip started favouring spin, and the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja cashed in on it, to peg the home team back with wickets at regular intervals.

“The spinners did it for us. Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja did really well, but it was also Raina’s spell after Mohit’s injury,” Dhoni said.

“I never thought it would spin and in the back of my mind I was wary the ball would not do a lot. When I saw the pitch it had some green but I think after the first 20 minutes or so it dried up and slowed down. Raina also bowled well and he gave us the first breakthrough. Rayudu also got a wicket. Both of them took us through in the run chase later on,” he added.

With the preparations for World Cup 2015 in full swing, India were forced to open with Rahane after Rohit Sharma’s injury. Rayudu, making a comeback into the team, guided the chase with a steady half century. Commenting on the team combination, the felt the position is still up for grabs.

“Rayudu did very well, we are still looking for a number four batsman and there are a few out there,” said Dhoni.