Kohli’s curious lack of intent

NEW DELHI: In the not-so-old days, when Virat Kohli would walk out to bat everyone seemed to be on the edge. The opposition, because they knew that if Kohli was allowed to settle, he would take the game away from them.

The viewers, because they knew that the former India skipper was all about positive intent and imposing himself on the proceedings. He, like all great batters, would seize every opportunity to score and let the world know that he had arrived in the middle. The bowler almost didn’t matter because Kohli just wanted to do his own thing. He also did it for so long that we all started to assume that this was his default mode.

Cut to the present. When Kohli walked out to bat during the IPL, the opposition wasn’t forced to hustle in any way. The viewers cast a cursory eye on the game—perhaps driven more by nostalgia and hope than anything else—and the bowlers just seemed to be lining up to take a shot at a prized wicket that can still help them grab the headlines. The aura is missing but perhaps more importantly, so is the intent.

Many ex-cricketers have tried to break down Kohli’s technique to try and understand what is going wrong. Some say he isn’t picking up the length as early as he used to and that in turn means he has that little bit less time to play his shots. Others mention how his footwork isn’t as decisive as earlier. RCB coach Sanjay Bangar had said it is just a matter of time. Former India coach Ravi Shastri said that the right-hander needs a break. But these are all, essentially, theories. Knowledgeable guesses, yes, but guesses nonetheless because no one is sure.

However, the fact that Kohli is unable to force the pace anymore is not a theory. If one takes a look at his numbers over the

OVERALL 2020 2021 2022

OVERALL 2020 2021 2022

OVERALL 2020 2021 2022

OVERALL 2020 2021 2022

last three years, a trend emerges. There has been a steady decline in his strike rate (SR) with every passing year (see graphic).

In Tests his career strike rate is 55.69 but in 2022 it was down to 39.04. He admittedly played just three Tests in 2022, so it is a very small cross-section but his SR in 2021 (when he played 11 Tests) was 44.07.

In ODIS, his career SR stands at 92.92. His strike rate in 2022 (6 ODIS) was 75.53 and that is a huge drop. Similarly, in T20IS, the decline has been steady.

The clearest drop, though, is in IPL. His career SR stands at a passable 129.15 but his SR in IPL 2022 was 115.99. Now, many might say that no argument dictated by SR can be considered absolute because this metric is dictated by match situation, the pitch, the conditions and even the opposition. But the steady decline over three years gives us access to a bigger picture. Reputations matter in sport and let no one tell you otherwise. Kohli’s genius has been acknowledged by one and all but the moment he shows some weakness, his opponents will pounce on it. And his inability to push bowlers on the backfoot at the moment is a big chink in his armour at present. When he fails to dispatch deliveries that he otherwise would have done easily in the past, it emboldens bowlers to pitch the ball that little bit further up. It emboldens them because they won’t be punished. Now, whether this is because Kohli won’t or can’t is a question best answered by Kohli himself.

This has happened to others before. The name that instantly comes to mind is Sachin Tendulkar, when he was struggling to recover from his tennis elbow. The right-hander, who represented India from 1989 to 2013, had a career SR of 86.23 but saw it fall to 77.29 in 2005 and 77.05 in 2006. It was the first time since 1994 that his strike rate had fallen below 80.

Tendulkar eventually recovered from his injury and so did his strike rate. He adapted his game too. Instead of the player who would blast the opposition away, he became a smart accumulator, playing with the field and the psyche of the opposition.

And in his short break from the Indian team, this is perhaps the question that Kohli needs to ponder over. Can he continue to play as he has or does he need to make some changes of his own? In 2014, after struggling in England, Kohli had headed over to Tendulkar to try and figure out what was going wrong. The hard work put in after that made Kohli a legend. Perhaps another chat with Tendulkar is now in order. There is little that Kohli does not understand about batting but this is now fast evolving into a mental battle and given that Tendulkar found his way out, his words could perhaps help Kohli reinvent himself and find a way to prolong his own legend.