The former head coach of the Indian side, Greg Chappell, has highlighted the issue that has been troubling the former captain of the national side, Virat Kohli, across formats in the last three to four years. The star batter of the side hasn’t been in a top-notch, celebrating just three centuries in the longest format in the last five years, which has created doubts about his ability.
Virat came into the series on the back of his poor 93 runs in six innings at home against New Zealand at an average of 15.50 with the help of one half-century in Bengaluru. Apart from his century in the second innings of the opening Perth Test, the right-handed batter has clubbed just 26 runs in the four innings in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 down under.
Greg Chappell felt that Kohli has been suffering from the Elite Performance Decline Syndrome (EPDS). Since the start of 2020, the batter has seen a massive drop in his international performance with the help of 1964 runs in 65 innings at an average of 31.67. The Adelaide-born veteran analyzed that the decline of Kohli’s performance has happened due to the tendency to begin his innings tentatively.
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“The first visible sign of EPDS is a subtle but unmistakable shift in a player’s approach at the crease. Kohli, once renowned for his domineering starts, has in recent years shown a tendency to begin tentatively.” The former South Australian batter wrote in his column for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Greg Chappell points out the need for a 20-30 runs buffer for Virat Kohli
Virat came into the series with his Test average of around 54 down under, but his poor four knocks in Adelaide and Brisbane have dropped the record to around 50 as he has now carried himself to 1478 runs in 30 innings at a strike rate of 53.86 with the help of seven centuries and four half-centuries at the best score of 169 in Melbourne.
The 76-year-old has noted that the poor form of Kohli is much like the other past legends in the form of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting. He also suggested that Virat would now need a buffer of around 20-30 runs to rediscover the same flow at the crease.
“Much like Tendulkar and Ponting before him, Kohli seems to need a buffer – a score of 20 or 30 – before he can rediscover his flow. Reaching a score of 20 or 30 acts as a psychological turning point, helping them regain the confidence and fluency of their prime.” Greg Chappell stated.
The weakness of the batter outside the off stumps has been exposed by the Australian bowlers, as he has been getting dismissed similarly. In the first innings of the Adelaide Test, he wasn’t sure whether to play the delivery from Mitchell Starc away from his body and ended up getting an outside edge into the hands of the slip fielder.
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In the second innings, Kohli leaned forward to get another outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper. Greg Chappell has urged the fans to show support and belief for the batter, as they are slowly moving towards the fag end of their career.
During the third Test of the BGT 2024-25 at the Gabba in Brisbane, the Delhi-born left a few balls outside the off-stump but couldn’t resist himself from the greed as he went for a booming drive to Josh Hazlewood and ended in the wrong side of the coin.