Virat Kohli Is Under A Lot Of Pressure Himself As Expectations From Him Are Huge: WV Raman

Aug 31, 2021 at 2:37 PM

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Virat Kohli Is Under A Lot Of Pressure Himself As Expectations From Him Are Huge: WV Raman

Virat Kohli hasn’t had the best time with the bat in India’s ongoing tour of England. In three Tests, the skipper has only scored 124 runs at an average of 24.80, which is much lower than the bar he’s set at the biggest stage. And his team’s heavy defeat in the third Test at Headingley has only made things worse. However, WV Raman has suggested a solution to his problems.

Virat Kohli was caught behind in all five innings that he batted in the series so far. He got out twice each to pacers James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, and once to pace all-rounder Sam Curran. Fellow England skipper Joe Root, on the other hand, has amassed 507 runs at a Bradmanesque average of 126.75.

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli[photo: Twitter]

Virat Kohli Is Under A Lot Of Pressure: WV Raman

While speaking during an interaction arranged by Sony, the former India cricketer stated Virat Kohli is under pressure himself and that people “pay a lot of attention to everything he does.”

“See we cannot really fault him. What can generally be the norm in life and other spheres might not apply in cricket always. I mean, what has happened is, there is a lot of pressure on Virat himself. We pay a lot of attention to everything he does. We know he is one of the best batsmen so we expect a lot from him. It’s similar to how it was with Sachin Tendulkar when he was playing. Even 95 was considered a failure,” WV Raman said.

WV Raman PC: Twitter
WV Raman PC: Twitter

He then went on to give a piece of advice to Virat Kohli; saying that he should just “nudge the others from begins” and “lead from behind.”

“If I was Virat’s coach, I would tell him: “Virat, enough of this leading from the front. Just try and nudge the others from behind and get them to do what they can deliver. I’m sure you’ll be back at your best in no time”.

“He did show shades of his old game/fluency in the last innings. I’m sure he will definitely do well in the next two Test matches. As a leader, I’ll tell him, you need to discard and forget this thing of leading from the front. Nudge others and lead from behind,” explained WV Raman.

England leveled the five-match series 1-1 after romping to an innings and 76 runs win. The fourth Test will be played at the Kennington Oval, starting Thursday.

Virat Kohli Had A Poor Series In The 2014 England Tour Too

Virat Kohli has scored just 124 runs at a lowly average of 24.80 in the five innings he has played so far. The 55 runs he scored in his last knock is his only half-century of the series to date. Across formats, the India skipper hasn’t scored a century since November 2019 and has also slipped to the 5th spot in the ICC Test rankings as a batsman.

Stuart Broad celebrates dismissing Virat Kohli during the 2014 series. Pic: Getty Images
Stuart Broad celebrates dismissing Virat Kohli during the 2014 series. Pic: Getty Images

In the 2014 England tour, the Indian skipper had a horrific series where he ended up scoring only 134 runs from four Tests. He averaged only 13, with scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6, and 20. Virat Kohli had contrasting tours of England in 2014 and 2018. In 2014, he managed only 134 runs in five Tests at a poor average of 13.40. Four years later, he hammered 593 runs in the five-Test series. Virat Kohli averaged 59.30 with two hundred in 2018.

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