Former India captain Virat Kohli has been going through a prolonged century drought, which has left cricket pundits all around the world in utter bewilderment. To think that one of the best batsmen of his time has been unable to score a century in any format of the game since 2019 is, indeed, very baffling.
Virat Kohli has been going through a lean batting patch
But something that has troubled Kohli fans a lot more in recent times is the fact that his century drought has slowly exacerbated into an overall struggle for runs. While he has been impressive in patches, the usual flamboyancy and panache in Kohli’s fearless style of batting has been missing for quite a while now. Be it international cricket or the IPL: in the last few games that he featured in, King Kohli has looked a mere shadow of his usual confident self.
Fans and commentators have been racking their heads over the myriad reasons that could’ve resulted in Kohli’s ongoing lean patch. While a lot of people think that Kohli needs to take a break from his jam-packed cricketing schedule; there are others who feel that with passing time, Kohli’s priorities have shifted from cricket. The fact that he recently relinquished captaincy from all forms of the game has lead many to suggest that Virat has a lot of things going on in his mind now, which could be disallowing him from completely focussing on his game.
Ex-Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, for one, happens to be someone who believes that Kohli might be approaching the game with a wrong attitude. Over on a recent interview on a Pakistani channel, Afridi opined that Kohli no longer has the motivation to be the top-ranked batsman in the world.
“Does Kohli think he has achieved everything?”- Shahid Afridi on Virat’s run drought
“In cricket, attitude matters the most. That is what I talk about the most. Do you have an attitude towards cricket or not? That Kohli, earlier in his career, wanted to be the No. 1 batsman in the world. But is he still playing cricket with the same motivation?” Afridi said in an interview to Samaa TV.
The mercurial former Pakistan captain further questioned if Kohli thinks he has already achieved everything and just tries to ‘pass time’ with cricket.
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“That is the big question. He has the class. But does he really even want to be No. 1 again? Or does he think he has achieved everything in life. Now just relax and pass time? It’s all about attitude,” Afridi concluded.
Kohli fans have been raring to see their favorite star in action ever since his IPL franchise, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, bowed out of the IPL 2022 playoffs. He is expected to resume his national duties in the one-off rescheduled fifth test match against England that starts from 1st July.