‘Nothing will motivate him more…’: Gavaskar's big Champions Trophy prediction for out-of-form Virat Kohli

Gavaskar is confident that Kohli will turn up big at the Champions Trophy and is eagerly waiting to know how he will celebrate after winning the title.

Batting great Sunil Gavaskar has backed 'big-match player' Virat Kohli to regain his mojo in the upcoming Champions Trophy. The batting maestro has been going through a lean patch with the bat and endured a tough red ball seasons where he struggled miserably against spinners against New Zealand and pacers in Border-Gavaskar Trophy versus Australia.

India's Virat Kohli plays a shot during the second ODI against England.(AFP)

The 36-year-old also returned to the Ranji Trophy after more than a decade to regain his form, but the struggle continued. He was dismissed for 6 off 15 deliveries. The rough patch extended in ODIs, too, as he failed to score big in the second match against England and was dismissed for just 5.

Gavaskar is confident that Kohli will turn up big at the Champions Trophy and is eagerly waiting to know how he will celebrate after winning the title as he did the Gangnam dance when India won the tournament in 2013.

"Kohli is a big-match player, and nothing will motivate him more than the opportunity to score runs and win the Champions Trophy for India. After the last Champions Trophy win in 2013, he celebrated with the Gangnam dance, which was the rage way back then. This time, if he helps India win, we could be in for another unique celebration from him," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Under Kohli's captaincy, India also played in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy, but he failed to lead them to the title win, which they lost to Pakistan.

"India firm favourites to win Champions Trophy"

However, Gavaskar feels that the current Indian team is once again the firm favourites to win the marquee ICC event as he talked about the unity in the side.

"That’s why India, apart from the talent that they have, will start as firm favourites to win the ICC Champions Trophy once again. The spirit in the team is very good, as could be seen by their enthusiastic cheering of their teammates who won individual awards at the recent annual BCCI awards function. A team that is laughing with each other is a happy team that will invariably try and play for each other," he wrote.