"Every player goes through things called bad patch or lean patch" - Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli heading into WTC final

Sunil Gavaskar believes Virat Kohli has regained his form heading into the World Test Championship (WTC) final after a prolonged lean patch.

India will face Australia in the WTC final at The Oval in London from Wednesday, June 7. Kohli is heading into the crunch game on the back of centuries in his last two innings of the recently concluded edition of the Indian Premier League.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues', Gavaskar was asked about his thoughts on Kohli heading into the WTC final with a lot of confidence, to which he responded:

"Every player goes through things called bad patch or lean patch. So I think that was what was happening. Then later on once he started to get the runs, you would again have noticed that in the early stages, he was having a bit of luck."

The former Indian opener pointed out that the modern batting great enjoyed the rub of the green once he returned to run-scoring ways:

"The inside edges were going near the stumps but not hitting the stumps, the catches being dropped or the catches being just a little bit away from the fielder. So that little bit of luck that every batter needs, which had deserted him in that barren period, he has got it back."

Gavaskar highlighted that Kohli was bound to regain his form, reasoning:

"Otherwise, he has got a wonderful temperament, he has got the hunger for runs, and technically also he is very good. So no wonder that he has been back among the runs."

Kohli averaged less than 30 in Test cricket in each of the previous three years. The former Indian skipper has aggregated 297 runs at an average of 49.50 in six innings in 2023, which includes a 186-run knock in India's last Test against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

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"You would want to maybe look at having an extra spinner" - Sunil Gavaskar on India's likely bowling combination in the WTC final

India played both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the last WTC final.

Sunil Gavaskar was also asked his thoughts on whether India should field Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in tandem in the WTC final, to which he replied:

"Going by what generally happens at The Oval, you would want to maybe look at having an extra spinner because at The Oval on days third, fourth and fifth there is help for the spinners. It all depends not just on the pitch but overcast conditions, and what the weather forecast is."

Gavaskar concluded by opining that India might want to go with just one spinner if the match is played in cold conditions, reasoning it would be tough to grip the ball.