'Have seen players scoring 30s and surviving in team for years': India legend's blunt take on out-of-form Kohli's future

In England T20Is, Kohli could score only 12 runs in two innings. This was followed by 17 and 16 runs in the three-match ODI series.

Virat Kohli was once churning out centuries for fun. There are a few better sights in the game than watching a free-flowing Kohli in his element. But the star batter has looked a pale shadow of his former self, having not scored an international ton for nearly three years. At a time when his future is a matter of intense debate, Kohli remains absent from the Indian squad for the away series in West Indies. A prolonged lean patch has put him under the scanner and the selectors haven't clarified if he got dropped or rested for the limited-overs assignment.

A dejected Virat Kohli walks back after getting out cheaply.  (Getty)

Kohli's wretched run led to legendary Kapil Dev saying that if a bowler with the pedigree of Ravichandran Ashwin could be dropped from the Test team then so can Kohli. While the top-order batter faces a long lean patch, former Indian women's team captain and a legend of the game, Anjum Chopra believes it is a matter of time before he finds his lost mojo.

"Virat Kohli himself knows what he needs. When you do not score as per your standards, you practice more. I am sure that he is practising, is doing, and will keep doing everything to back in form. The way international cricket goes, practice is the only way out," said Chopra in an exclusive interview with ANI.

"A player can only try and make the effort. And a player like him must be trying and trying to get out of the slump. But sometimes, things do not go your way. The kind of adulation and focus he has had on him over the years, this dip was bound to happen sometime," she added.

Chopra also underlined the high standard that Kohli has set for himself. Despite blowing hot and cold in his recent phase, the 33-year-old has got 70 international centuries – a testimony to his batting prowess regardless of format.

"I have seen players scoring 30s and 40s and surviving in the Indian team for years. But from his bat, the 30s and 40s look less because of the standard he has set for himself. I am sure that it will be a matter of time that he will be back among runs for the Indian team," added Chopra.

While many believe Kohli needs a break before the World T20, others have said that the former skipper needs game-time to get back to his old self. Kapil Dev has also said that Kohli should get more practice to overcome the slump," he told ABP News.

“My thinking is that if anybody isn’t doing well then he can be rested or dropped,” he added.