Former Indian skipper, Mohammed Azharuddin has come in support of out-of-form Virat Kohli to do well in England, adding that there is nothing wrong with the technique of the batting stalwart and even the best cricketers go through a bad phase in their careers. India will be touring England later this month.
During a recent chat with Gulf News, Mohammed Azharuddin said, “When Kohli gets a 50, it seems he has failed, of course, he has not done much this year. Everybody, even the best, goes through a bad phase in their career. Kohli has been playing a lot of cricket and now that he has got a little break, hopefully, he will come back to form in England.”
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Virat Kohli has failed to score a single international century since India’s Day-Night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in November 2019. He had his worst season in the IPL in 2022, as he only managed to score 341 runs from 16 matches at 22.73 for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Kohli will join the India Test squad for the tour of England for the 5th Test match of last year’s series.
Describing the same, Mohammad Azharuddin said, “There is nothing wrong with his technique. Sometimes you also need a little bit of luck. If he gets one big score, a big hundred, the aggression and the confidence will come back.”
Azhar also hoped that all-rounder Hardik Pandya, after leading Gujarat Titans (GT) to win the title in the IPL 2022 as captain, needs to show consistency for long periods.
Mohammad Azharuddin elaborated, “He has the ability, he has done well for the Indian team, but because of the injuries, he was not in the team consistently. He has come back now, he is bowling his four overs. But we definitely want him to bowl since he is an all-rounder. In the IPL final (against Rajasthan Royals), he completely changed the game; three wickets in four overs, then he scored 34 quick runs. He is a good talent, just needs that consistency.”
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India’s Test squad vs England: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain) Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh KrishnaLive TV
