IND vs SA LIVE – Virat Kohli: India begins their quest to conquer FINAL-FRONTIER on Sunday. But the Indian captain has a individual battle to win in the India vs South Africa test series. Kohli is without a ton since last 51 international innings. To end his barren run, he is training hard in the nets with special tips coming from Rahul Dravid’s side – Follow India vs South Africa Boxing Day Test LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN
Dravid is all focussed on Kohli & lending all his support & acumen to end the century-less run of last 25 months.
“Coming into this environment, being part of it and supporting him along the way is something I am really looking forward to. He has always improved. I think he is one of those players who keeps evolving, getting better and keeps pushing himself and has had great success wherever he has played,” said Dravid in an interview on the official website of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
IND vs SA LIVE: Virat Kohli ‘DESPERATE’ for ton, Rahul Dravid says ‘ready to support him’
Will Kohli’s Barren Run End? Believe it or not, Kohli is just averaging 26 in test cricket since 2019.
Not only this – hailed as the world’s best batsman not too long ago, he hasn’t scored a ton since the last 51 international innings.
The dip in Kohli’s form is staggering and longer than anticipated.
After his last international hundred in the pink-ball Test match against Bangladesh Kohli has played 51 innings across format. He has just scored 2025 runs at an average of 39.70.
His career average in 446 matches (Tests+ODIs+T20Is) is 54.96 – clear mirror of how badly his form has dipped in last 25 months.
The stats get uglier in the Test format which Virat Kohli worships
- An average of 26.04 since his last hundred.
- He has played 23 innings during the period, scoring 599 runs with just 4 fifties.
- Virat Kohli has failed to score more than 74 runs in an innings in his last 13 Test matches
- Virat Kohli’s percentage of Test win has also dropped to 46.15% compared to 62.26 before the 136 against Bangladesh.
🥊day 🏏..⏳ pic.twitter.com/kV3tbqlQdp
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) December 23, 2021
“Virat has to do some soul-searching. He has to go back to the basics. This (lean patch) has happened to many cricketers. Sunil Gavaskar in 1974, then to Jimmy (Mohinder Amarnath). They tried everything, defend and attack, but never got the runs. The same thing is happening with Virat. It’s a cycle,” said former India opener Anshuman Gaekwad to News18.
“Urging Kohli to learn from Tendulkar and avoid the shot that is getting him out every time,” Sunil Gavaskar was quoted as saying about Kohli couple of weeks ago.
Can South Africa series change his fortunes? When India last toured South Africa in 2018, the right-hander finished as the highest (286) run-scorer in the series.
Overall, he is fourth behind Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in the list of Indians with most runs in South Africa. His average of 55.80 to score 558 runs in 5 matches in the country is expected to give that much-needed motivation.
India have also never won a Test Series in South Africa in their last 7 attempts and Kohli led India can do the unthikable – provided the CAPTAIN gets his MOJO back.
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