Australia vs India, 4th Test Day 1: Five Talking Points

#3 Virat Kohli's strange inconsistency

Virat Kohli

There is no debate to the statement that Virat Kohli is India's best batsman of modern times, if not of all time. Records and numbers are child's play for the Indian skipper, and so are scoring hundreds as Kohli rarely plays an innings that fails to catch the statistician's eyes.

But the man with the Midas touch cannot speak about his batting in the ongoing Australian series, with a similar tone of authority. Despite being the second best run-maker in the series behind Pujara himself, one could say that it is largely due to the inefficiency of the other players than the efficiency of his own.

As a matter of fact, check out his scores in the seven innings so far - 3, 34, 123, 17, 82, 0, 23. Zero not outs, two scores below five runs, five scores below 25 runs. The sole exceptions are the hundred he made in the second Test and the 82 from the last game. Take those away, and Kohli's contributions amount to 78 runs from five innings. Probably the lowest low that he has had since he began his golden run sometime around 2013.

The fans are left pondering over the factors that could be the reason for this "strange" phenomenon. There is no denying that he has been facing some back niggles over the past couple of weeks, but as viewers, we are forced to turn down that as a suggestion to his current problem, given his pattern of dismissals.

Four out of seven times, Kohli fell prey to loose shots that maybe point fingers at a fall in concentration levels. In today's game as well, he attempted a needless shot at a ball that would have gone down the leg-side, the ball getting a lot of his glove in the process. The umpire needed no further inspiration to raise the finger as Tim Paine pocketed the catch behind the wickets.

Virat Kohli will definitely have to find out a ready solution to whatever is the cause for these lapses, as India's chances in the game irrespective of formats, still continue to loom large on the man from Delhi. With the World Cup and similar such important assignments in plain sight, it is imperative that he continues to remain in the best of touch.