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Cricket Players'Guy's a genius. Name a player who hasn’t gone through rough patch in his career': Pietersen's staunch defence of Kohli
Pietersen hailed Kohli as a "genius" and opined that every great player go through a rough patch.
It has been 951 days since former India skipper Virat Kohli last scored an international century. It was against Bangladesh back in 2019 at home when Kohli last notched up the three-figure mark, en route to his match-winning knock of 136. And while his career average has dipped below 50 during this period that saw him score six half-century knocks in 18 Tests, for a player of Kohli's stature, the lack of century has created a lot of concern among fans, experts and veteran cricketers. But former England captain Kevin Pietersen on Friday launched a staunch defence of Kohli.
Speaking to Sky Cricket at the end of the first session of the Edgbaston Test between India and England, Pietersen hailed Kohli as a "genius" and opined that every great player go through a rough patch.
India vs England Live Score, 5th Test Day 1
"The guy is a great player, the guy is a genius," Pietersen said. "Name me a player that hasn’t gone through a rough patch in his career.
"Some of the greatest players have been dropped, they’ve actually just been parked. He’s obviously going to get the pressure, but we’ve all been there, it’s the circle of life, you are never good all the way around that circle," he added.
Since the century in Kolkata in the historic Pink Ball Test in 2019, Kohli has scored 842 runs in 31 innings at just 28.06. While he averaged only 19.33 in three Tests in 2020 and 28.12 in 11 Tests last year, Kohli returned with better figures in 2022, scoring 190 runs in five innings so far at 38 with one half-century score.
In the ongoing Pataudi Trophy, Kohli has scored 219 runs in seven innings at 31.28 with two half-century scores.
Talking about the match, India lost both their openers in the first session after being put to bat first as James Anderson struck twice to remove Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara. India ended first session at 53 for two before rain struck Birmingham.
