BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has backed Virat Kohli to find his way to regain his form, citing the player’s brilliance across formats over the years.
Kohli has endured a tough time in recent years, with big scores eluding him across formats. His last international hundred came in November 2019 – against Bangladesh in the pink-ball Test in Kolkata – and his scores on the ongoing England tour read 11 and 20 (Edgbaston Test) and 1 and 11 (T20I series), before a groin injury kept him out of the first ODI at The Oval on Tuesday, which India won by 10 wickets.
The former India captain has been rested from the team’s upcoming tour of the West Indies, which features three ODIs and five T20Is between July 22 and August 7.
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While Kohli has been criticised from various corners for the dry run of late, so too have been the selectors for overlooking youngsters. However, BCCI boss Ganguly believes that he will be back to his fluent best in the near future.
“Yes, he has had a tough time and he knows that. He himself knows by his own standards it has not been good and I see him coming back and doing well. But he has got to find his way and become successful, which he has been for the last 12-13 years or more and only Virat Kohli can do that,”
Ganguly told ANI.
Ganguly, one of India’s most successful captains, added that form can desert even a player of the highest quality, citing his own examples and those of his own contemporaries Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and asked for Kohli to keep focusing on his game.
“These things will happen in sport. It has happened to everybody. It has happened to Sachin [Tendulkar], it has happened to Rahul [Dravid], it has happened to me, it has happened to Kohli.
It is going to happen to future players. That’s part and parcel of sport and I think as a sportsman you just need to listen, be aware of what it is, and just go and play your game.”
