What’s the story?
Former Indian opener, Virender Sehwag has come out in support of Indian captain Virat Kohli and has said that a player with the calibre of a Kohli knows how to get back to form and start scoring runs.
"It (bad patch) happens with every player. Even if you look at the great Sachin Tendulkar, he hasn't played the same (way) every year. Even your (media) questions keep changing time to time. When time changes, the form also changes. The hallmark of a good player is who can come out of bad form and Virat knows very well how to come back into good form," Sehwag said.
The Details
Sehwag sounded confident about India’s chances in the upcoming Champions Trophy and did not concur with the common notion of players being jaded after a gruelling IPL season.
Also, he was very optimistic about Virat Kohli and maintained that players like Kohli who have tasted success for a long time know the modus operandi to bounce back and get back to scoring runs.
He also spoke about his own side Kings XI Punjab’s chances of making it to the playoffs and said that they believe they can go on to the next level. However, he was quite candid to admit that his side’s chances depended on other teams and he hopes the results fall in their favour.
In case you didn’t know...
Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore has had a miserable run this IPL and have won only 2 games so far and have been ousted from the tournament. Their batting has failed to step up and the trio of AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, and Virat Kohli have just not stepped up for the side.
Captain Kohli has only managed 250 runs from nine games at a modest average of 27-plus with 64 being his highest score.
What's next?
Kohli himself has gone on record saying that this season was like a jinxed one for him and his side and that nothing went according to plan and anything and everything they tried only backfired.
However, he would know that once he walks out as the captain of the Indian side come the Champions Trophy he has to put all the disappointments behind and give it all a fresh go.
Sehwag too knows the player all too well and thus his assessment of him makes sense on every count and all eyes will now be on the Indian captain.
Author's Take
It would be a mistake to judge the prowess of any player just by looking at his performances in any one format and this why Virat Kohli and his form at the IPL should not be a concern as he still is a gun player in ODIs and for a player of his ability all it needs is one innings to flick that switch on which would enable him to get into the zone.
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