Former English batter, Kevin Pietersen remembers Virat Kohli’s poor run with the bat, especially after the Covid pandemic–and all the cricketing activities were brought to a halt, while the matches were held behind closed doors.
The former England skipper advised the star Indian batter to just chill in that phase as he is an entertainer.
Kevin Pietersen’s key advice to Virat Kohli in his lean phase-
“Virat, I’ve known for a very long time. The way that he plays the game. So passionate, so abrasive, so emotional. I think Covid hurt him. I said it to him. ‘Just chill, dude, it’s Covid, you’re an entertainer. You cannot play with three people and their dog watching you play cricket.’ In a video posted by Betway, Pietersen shared the facts of his conversation with Kohli.
“To see him get that 75th hundred. People were foolish not to back him and not to support him,” said the Ex-England skipper.
Notably, Pietersen and Kohli played together in the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2009 and 2010, while in the 2009 edition, they finished as the runner-ups. The 42-year-old retired from all formats of cricket in 2018, and he was on the commentary panel for IPL 2022 season.
Virat made an epic comeback from the slump in form to score five hundred starting in Asia cup 2022. Kohli now has 28 tons in the longer format of the game–and will continue to add some more centuries to his tally in the foreseeable future.
There was plenty of respect for Virat Kohli's superb performance from the Aussies after play on day four in Ahmedabad #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/uNTilU64sj
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 13, 2023
With Virat Kohli returning to form, the talk around him reaching the 100-century mark has already become a centre of the debate.
Speaking to SportsYaari, Ravi Shastri feels Virat Kohli has a lot of cricket left in him–and he can probably play for the next 5-6 years in International cricket. He also added that it will be a huge achievement by the RCB-batter if he can go past that record as it was done only by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar in world cricket.
The 34-year-old had a forgettable IPL 2022. He scored 341 runs in 16 games at an average of 22.73 and a strike rate of 115.99. Kohli will be eyeing to perform better in the IPL 16 for Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB). Faf du Plessis-led side will open their campaign in IPL 2023 on April 2 when they will lock horns against Mumbai Indians (MI).