Virat Kohli scored 51 and 65 in the first and third game of the ODI series in South Africa respectively, but he managed to score 8,18 and 0 in the 3 ODIs at home against West Indies. Former legendary India captain Sunil Gavaskar had a one-word answer to the question on what’s ailing Virat Kohli in the ongoing ODI series against West Indies before he reminded us that he had scored two half-century knocks in the series in South Africa last month.
Virat Kohli hasn’t scored an ODI century since August 14 of 2019, a streak of 18 matches heading into the series against West Indies at home. But the 33-year-old owned a healthy average of 42.50, having scored 765 runs with 10 half-centuries before the 3rd inconsequential ODI. Two of those fifties came during the series last month in losing causes against South Africa where he scored 51 and 65 in the first and third game respectively.
Virat Kohli Isn’t Out Of Form But Out Of Luck: Sunil Gavaskar
Having scored over 2000 runs against West Indies, it remains Virat Kohli’s favourite opposition in the format. In fact, his last two centuries in ODIs, came against the West Indies, in consecutive innings in 2019.
However, he has managed scored of only 8 and 18 in the first two matches so far, getting dismissed with a short ball and the other caught behind. Dissecting the two dismissals, Sunil Gavaskar feels that luck hasn’t been with Virat Kohli in the last couple of matches.
“Luck. Every batsman needs a bit of luck. Every batsman needs a particular situation where he plays and misses. Every batsman needs a particular situation where he edges the ball and the catch is dropped or the ball falls short in front of the fielder.”
“He hasn’t quite had the best of luck in the last couple in the last so many matches. But don’t forget, three matches back he had two back-to-back fifties in the series in South Africa. So he isn’t out of form, he is, not at the moment, having the best of luck,” he told Star Sports after India’s win in the second ODI in Ahmedabad.
Virat Kohli’s rough patch with the bat in the ongoing ODI series against West Indies continued as the former captain was dismissed for a two-ball duck in the third and final game on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Virat Kohli left the first ball that was going outside off before trying to nudge the next down the leg side only to edge it to Shai Hope behind the stumps.
Shreyas Iyer And Rishabh Pant Score Fifties After Top Order Failure In 3rd ODI
Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant reach the fifties as they continue to rebuild the Indian innings after the hosts endured another poor start in the third and final ODI of the series in Ahmedabad. The top-3 of Rohit Sharma (13), Shikhar Dhawan (10) and Virat Kohli (0) was dismissed early as Alzarri Joseph and Odean Smith were among the wickets.
In the 3rd ODI, Kuldeep Yadav made a return to the XI while Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, and Deepak Chahar were also included in the game. KL Rahul missed the dead rubber with a niggle, while Deepak Hooda, Shardul Thakur, and Yuzvendra Chahal were the two other outgoing players.
With the dismissal, Virat Kohli ended the West Indies ODI series scoring just 26 runs which includes scores of 8 off 4 and 18 off 30 respectively in the first two games. It is the second-lowest he has ever scored in a three-match bilateral ODI series and the first since the home series against Pakistan in 2012/13, where he had managed only 13 runs in three innings averaging 4.33.