Former India opener Aakash Chopra opined that Kohli isn’t going through a rough patch but India would want his destructive mode of the past when he used to dominate bowling attacks.
Notable that Virat Kohli hasn’t scored a hundred in any form of cricket since November 2019 however his numbers in ODI cricket aren’t that bad as he scored 6 fifties in the last 10 ODIs. Though Aakash Chopra wants to see the destructive version of him which was the hallmark of ‘old’ Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli scored 6 fifties in the last 10 ODI innings
Speaking to Star sports on the show ‘Game Plan’, Chopra said that he wants to see Virat Kohli dictating terms with the bat like he used to. He also stressed that unlike the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli is an enforcer.
“From a personal and individual standpoint, you want to convert those 50s into 100s because you’ve got to save something for the rainy days as well. He’s not going through a bad patch of form, so to speak, in terms of runs, but when you see him bat, you don’t see the same Virat Kohli.
“He’s not imposing, he’s not dominating, he’s still scratching around, he’s scoring those runs and that’s what all great players do – we saw Sachin, Rahul – we’ve seen them accumulate runs, but he’s (Virat Kohli) not an accumulator, he’s an enforcer but he’s not there yet,” Aakash Chopra said.
Chopra pointed out that it would be interesting to see Kohli batting under the leadership of Rohit Sharma as each captain imposes a brand of cricket with which he wants his play. This will be the first time Virat will play under Rohit’s captaincy in any format.
“But the one thing I actually want to see, is now Rohit Sharma will have his stamp of authority and the brand of cricket that he wants to play. Virat Kohli has to be apart of the same philosophy. And once you have a different philosophy in place, sometimes it just liberates you, because you are not really thinking about, ‘Ok, I need to score or I need to do this. This is what all of us have to do together.’
“And that is what I am waiting to see, whether it unleashes and liberates Virat Kohli, no matter you get out on 50 but score that 50 off 55 balls, don’t worry about scoring a century, finishing games off, as a captain, you’ve done it all this while. It’s no longer your only job, your job description has changed a little,” he added.
The first ODI between India and West Indies will be played on February 6 in Ahmedabad.