Virat Kohli will continue his search for an international century when India face England in the postponed fifth Test in July. It has been well over two years since Kohli last scored an international century and his form only took a further hit in the 2022 Indian Premier League, in which he scored just 341 runs in 16 innings at an average of 22.73 and strike rate of 115.98.
Legendary coach Dinesh Lad, who coached current India captain Rohit Sharma in his formative years, said that he is confident of Kohli making a comeback and a bad patch is something that every great player has gone through in the past.
“Virat will make a comeback. Bad patches happen to everyone, some of the greatest cricketers have gone through it. Whether it be Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, they all went through bad patches. But then they came back from it. I am sure that Virat will make a great comeback,” said Lad on IndiaTV.
Lad said that while he cannot pick any faults in Kohli's technique, the prolonged patch of poor form may have had an effect on the former India's mental health.
“I think he should take care of his mental health more, that may have been affected by his form. He will always bat well, I have nothing to say about his batting. He doesn't look mentally strong which may be the reason why his performances have gone down. Not scoring a century for three years is very bad. Especially for a player like Virat. Sachin had said that his record can be broken by only two batters and they are Virat and Rohit. Virat had come close and I would like him to be breaking those records over the next few years,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“I think he should take care of his mental health more, that may have been affected by his form. He will always bat well, I have nothing to say about his batting. He doesn't look mentally strong which may be the reason why his performances have gone down. Not scoring a century for three years is very bad. Especially for a player like Virat. Sachin had said that his record can be broken by only two batters and they are Virat and Rohit. Virat had come close and I would like him to be breaking those records over the next few years,” he said.
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