India have maintained an undefeated streak in the T20 World Cup 2024 so far, but the team has been grappling with a significant concern regarding the performance of legendary batter Virat Kohli. Despite convincingly topping their group with victories over Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States of America (USA), and continuing their strong form with a win against Afghanistan in the opening Super Eight match, Kohli has struggled to make an impact in the tournament.
Virat Kohli’s struggles
During the group stage, Kohli failed to reach double figures, accumulating just five runs across three innings. In the match against Afghanistan, he started cautiously but fell while attempting to accelerate, managing a run-a-ball 24. Kohli, primarily opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma – a role he has sporadically undertaken for India in T20Is but is well-versed in from the Indian Premier League (IPL), has endured a challenging time, tallying only 29 runs at an average of 7.25.
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India’s batting coach perspective and expectations
India’s next challenge in the Super Eight phase is against Bangladesh at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, on Saturday, June 22. Ahead of this crucial encounter, Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour addressed Kohli’s batting struggles in a pre-match press conference. Rathour acknowledged his dissatisfaction with Kohli’s run-scoring output in the ongoing tournament but emphasized the value of players facing challenges and learning from them.
“I’m not happy. I would love it if he gets going and scores more runs. But yeah, it is good when you are challenged at times,” Rathour was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
“You know, the guys who are not getting too much of batting in India sometimes, they are the ones who put up scores today and our middle-order came to play. So, it was good to see,” Rathour concluded.
Kohli’s significance as India’s leading run-scorer in the previous T20 World Cup adds to the expectation that he will rediscover his form in the remaining Super Eight matches. Notably after the game against Bangladesh, India will lock horns in a high-profile clash against Australia on Monday, highlighting the importance of Kohli’s resurgence in pivotal encounter ahead.
