Kohli has to beat Aus blues for India to revive

IN 18 T20S, VIRAT KOHLI’S OVERALL AVERAGE IS AROUND 30 AND IT IS 13 AGAINST AUSTRALIA IN THREE T20 INTERNATIONALS.

MUMBAI: Virat Kohli has been in top form across all formats in the last two years. Since January 1, 2017, no other batsman has scored as many runs as he has in both Tests (2122) and ODIs (2662). His tally of 21 international hundreds is also the best in the world during this phase. Though he has not played too many T20Is in this period, his strike rate of 136.89 is by no means below par.

Staggering as the Indian captain’s numbers have been, they come with a blot. Currently the No 1 ranked batsman in both Tests and ODIs, Kohli has dominated all opposition during this phase except Australia — a team India are currently playing against and lost the opening T20 match to.

Having won seven consecutive bilateral T20 series, Kohli and his men will want to make it eight in a row. But it doesn’t seem as straightforward a proposition as it looked earlier with Australia ready to come out all guns blazing after their allround show in the first game on Wednesday. So it is important that Kohli strikes form straightaway and sets his recent record against the Aussies right as India gear up to face the hosts in Melbourne in the second T20 on Friday.

In 11 matches since the start of 2017 against Australia, Kohli has failed to taste success. In comparison to his overall average of 66.31 in 20 Tests in the same period, his average against Australia in three Tests reads a miserable 9.20.

His overall average in ODIs is 95.07 in 40 games since 2017, but it falls to a moderate 36 in five ODIs against Australia. In 18 T20Is too, his overall average is around 30 and 13 against Australia in three T20s.

What has worked for Australia is their pacers’ strategy to bowl outside the off-stump forcing Kohli to play away from his body. Of the 12 times he has been dismissed against Australia in this period, pacers got him seven times with three of those playing away from his body. While Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have dismissed Kohli once each, Nathan Coulter-Nile has got him on three occasions.

In the 13 innings against Australia, he has passed 40 only once. Of the seven ducks he has during this period, four have come against Australia. On Wednesday at the Gabba, he was dismissed for 4 off 8.

On Friday, when India take on Australia in the second T20 in Melbourne, Kohli would have an opportunity to overcome his recent struggles against an opposition he dominated in the past.