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'In England I didn't feel like I was batting well at all': Kohli explains how his current slump is different from 2014
Kohli spoke in detail about how the ongoing rough patch differs from his disastrous England tour in 2014.
Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli began to run-scoring in style with a strong 73 during the game against Gujarat Titans on Thursday. Kohli's knock helped the RCB chase down a 169-run target with eights wickets to spare, as the side remains alive in the race for playoff qualification. However, it has been a difficult phase for Kohli, as he scored only his second half-century of the season. The Indian batter has scored at an average of only 23.77 in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League, scoring 309 runs in 14 innings. Follow IPL 2022 Coverage
This is not the first time that Kohli has gone through a prolonged period of poor run with the bat. In 2014, Kohli endured a disastrous outing in the tour of England, where he registered scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6, and 20 in five Tests at an average of 13.50 in 10 innings. During an interview on Star Sports, Kohli spoke in detail about his time in England, and insisted that the rough patch he's enduring currently is entirely different from the one in 2014.
“I am not looking to put this phase behind me, to be honest. What happened in England was a pattern so something that I could work on, something that I had to overcome. Right now, there is nothing that you can point out saying there is a problem here,” Kohli said.
“So, that for me is an easier thing to process because I know that I'm batting well and at times when I start feeling that rhythm back then I know I am batting well, which wasn't the case in England [where] I didn't feel like I was batting well at all. So I had to work hard on one thing that I could be exposed to again and again which I overcame. Right now, that's not the case. I know where my game stands and you cannot come this far in your international career without having the ability to counter the situations and counter conditions and counter different kinds of bowling.”
Kohli further said that he wants to learn from his ongoing struggles, insisting that he has well aware of his game.
“This phase for me is the easier phase to process but I don't want to put this behind me. I want to learn from it and understand that what are the core values that I have as a sportsperson and as a human being. As long as I'm ticking those boxes... I know these are ups and downs and when I come out of this phase I know how consistent I can be,” said Kohli.
"I know how motivated I will be once the scores start coming to make sure it's one after the another. I know that I have that drive in me to go back to back to back, which motivates me more as I mentioned in contributing towards my team's cause and making my team win. So these things drive me and propel me way more than the setbacks that I have.
“I am very aware of what's going on and I am absolutely, as I said, at ease with myself. And very, very confident about the fact that I will keep getting more and more balanced as a human being. Eventually that's what I want to get out of all these experiences because there is so much life beyond this that we don't understand the value, the true value of finding this balance.”
