'Luck deserted him in barren period': Sunil Gavaskar opens up on Virat Kohli's lean patch

It seems that Sunil Gavaskar, former Indian opener and cricket commentator, believes that Virat Kohli has regained his form heading into the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Gavaskar mentioned that every player goes through lean patches, and Kohli was no exception. He noted that in Kohli's early stages of returning to form, he had a bit of luck with inside edges narrowly missing the stumps, dropped catches, or catches just eluding fielders.

Gavaskar expressed confidence in Kohli's ability to bounce back, citing his temperament, hunger for runs, and strong technical skills. Kohli had struggled in Test cricket over the previous three years, averaging less than 30. However, in 2023, he scored 297 runs at an average of 49.50 in six innings, including a significant 186-run knock against Australia in India's last Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

"Every player goes through things called bad patch or lean patch. So I think that was what was happening. Then later on once he started to get the runs, you would again have noticed that in the early stages, he was having a bit of luck," Gavaskar said. 

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"The inside edges were going near the stumps but not hitting the stumps, the catches being dropped or the catches being just a little bit away from the fielder. So that little bit of luck that every batter needs, which had deserted him in that barren period, he has got it back. Otherwise, he has got a wonderful temperament, he has got a hunger for runs, and technically also he is very good. So no wonder that he has been back among the runs," he added. 

With these recent performances and regained confidence, Virat Kohli is expected to play a crucial role for India in the WTC final against Australia at The Oval in London, starting on Wednesday, June 7. This is the second time India will play the final of the World Test Championship after participating in the inaugural edition against New Zealand in 2021. Kohli was the captain of the team back then when India lost the final by 8 wickets. 

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WTC final squads

India’s squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).

Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia's squad: Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steven Smith (vice-capt), Mitchell Starc, David Warner.

Image: AP