Tag: Virat Kohli

LONDON: Former captain Virat Kohli has been ruled out of India’s Playing XI for the first ODI against England due to a groin injury.

Virat, who is going through a rough patch in international cricket and could only manage to score a mere 12 runs in two T20Is in the recently-concluded series, has now ruled out of India’s Playing XI for the first ODI.

Following Kohli’s unavailability, right-handed batter Shreyar Iyer replaced Kohli as India’s No.3 in the first fixture of the three-match series.

According to the details, the veteran batter also did not join the touring side on their way to Nottingham to here due to a medical stopover by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) medical panel.

The extent of his injury is still not known, however, reports suggest that the 33-year-old will be available for selection in the next fixture at Lord’s on July 14.

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KARACHI: Current Pakistan and former England spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed claimed that he advised the Indian top batter Virat Kohli to work on his footwork amid India’s tour to England.

Mushtaq, while speaking on ARY News’ show Bouncer (Eid Special) claimed that the former England spin bowling coach interacted with India’s top batter Kohli amid the ongoing tour of the subcontinent nation and advised the latter to work on his front foot movement.

“Once Virat was training in the gym and he himself came to me and asked how’s everything is going and after a brief conversation I told him a couple of things and he’s a very smart and a good listener,” Mushtaq revealed.

“So, I told Virat that the initial 10-15 runs you score, your front foot lands straight on the pitch and when you try to drive the ball and as your foot is not in the direction of the ball, it takes the outside nick even on a flat surface,” he added.

The legendary spinner then claimed that Virat acknowledged his point and started to shuffle across the pitch in the next games.

“After that, I noted that he began to shuffle across the pitch to get the ball in the middle but as you know when a batter shuffles especially when it is swinging, he lost track of where his off-stump was,” Mushtaq shared.

“He was carefully listening to all my points and acknowledged me, ‘That’s a very good point Mushi bhai and I would work on it’,” he maintained.

The former England coach then went on to reveal that he held a meeting with English cricket team management and made a policy to prevent Virat from scoring big and they agreed on the same.

“We made a policy for him [Kohli] during India’s white-ball tour and I told the English management that being an Asian coach, I think we should set a tight field for him for his first 15 runs. Let him hit the ball over mid-off, mid-on, or cover but he won’t be able to do so since he is afraid,” Mushtaq claimed.

“His confidence level gets boosted by getting a couple of quick singles, which he achieves by tapping the ball towards mid-off and mid-on in the early phase of his inning. So, I told them that we should take chances on him during his first 15 runs since there is a high chance that he would get out after playing a poor shot,” he concluded.

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DUBAI: England’s batter Jonny Bairstow and Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh pant have been rewarded for their astounding forms as both stepped into the top 10 in the latest ICC Test batting rankings.

Bairstow made a leap forward to secure the 10th spot, meanwhile, Pant jumped six places to finish 5th in the latest rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The 32-year-old Bairstow has been in sublime form in red-ball cricket as he smashed four centuries in the last three Tests, including dual tons against India in the rescheduled Test at Edgbaston aiding his side to clinch a historic chase in the fourth innings, yesterday.

Pant, on the other hand, has impressed with two centuries and three half-centuries in his past six Test innings to rise to his highest-ever position in the Test batting rankings.

However, former Indian captain and star batter Virat Kohli has slipped three spots to 13th in the latest rankings, owing to his dismal form.

Pakistan all-format captain Babar Azam remains unchanged in the 4th position in the latest Test rankings.

Meanwhile, England’s Joe Root continues to lead the rankings, followed by Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith in second and third spots, respectively.

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BIRMINGHAM: Indian star batter Virat Kohli and England’s Jonny Bairstow engaged in a fierce exchange of words on the third day of rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston. 

The incident took place when former Indian captain Kohli walked towards the on-strike batter Bairstow from the slips and exchanged bitter words after he was dodged by an inswinging delivery by Mohammed Shami.

Virat vs Bairstow!!!!pic.twitter.com/0iUNnfeBtr

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 3, 2022

The on-field umpires intervened to keep both the players calm as the situation heated up.

Meanwhile, Bairstow continued with his sublime form and scored a century in a bid to steer his side towards a competitive total.

It is pertinent to mention here that Bairstow and skipper Ben Stokes resumed the play on the third day with the overnight score of 84/5 after India completely dominated the hosts on the second day of Edgbaston Test.

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KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq commented on his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli’s recent slump in international cricket and claimed he is overdoing his dominating approach.

Misbah, speaking on the ICA Sports YouTube channel opined regarding the rough patch of India’s top batter Kohli and claimed that the latter always tries to dominate the bowlers as there is an ego and pride and is overdoing it.

“He is trying to dominate the bowlers as there’s an ego and pride. But somewhere he is overdoing it. He is playing more and more and the pressure is mounting on him,” claimed Misbah.

The former captain also shared his opinion on Kohli’s weakness of chasing the outside off deliveries and termed it a technical issue and mental illness.

“Virat Kohli looks to chase outside-off deliveries a lot and has been dismissed in that manner multiple times. We can see the technical issues, but the reason why he is doing that is because of mental issues,” Misbah opined.

It is pertinent to mention here that Kohli had reached the milestone of 70 international centuries and has batted more than 100 innings without scoring a century in more than two years. He scored his last century against Bangladesh in November 2019.

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BIRMINGHAM: Former Indian captain and head coach Rahul Dravid has backed Virat Kohli and urged the star batter to contribute with match-winning performances -whether a 50 or a 60- as Team India prepares to face England in the rescheduled final Test at Edgbaston on July 1.

Dravid, in his pre-match press conference, put his weight behind Kohli, who has not scored a century since 2019 in any format, and stated that as a head coach he only wanted the batter to make match-winning contributions.

“Obviously, the standards that he has set, people only see hundreds as a success but for me, from a coaches’ perspective, we want contributions from him — match-winning contributions, whether it is a 50 or a 60,” he said as quoted by HindustanTimes. 

“As players, you go through these phases and I don’t think you need the motivation to be very honest with you and I think in Virat’s case it is nothing to do with lack of motivation or desire,” he added

Dravid praised the 34-year-old batter for his hard work and fitness and believed he still had a long career ahead of him.

In my opinion, he is on the right side of 30 and he is an incredibly fit guy. He is one of the most hardworking guys that I have come across and his desire and hunger and the whole attitude of looking after himself,” he concluded.

It is worth mentioning here that India’s current Test skipper Rohit Sharma has been undergoing isolation after he was tested positive for Covid-19, making his availability for tomorrow’s match doubtful.

Although India has called Mayank Agarwal as batting cover but still waiting for further tests of Rohit to announce his replacement as a skipper of the Indian team.

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DUBAI: Pakistan national team skipper Babar Azam has added one more record to his credit, as he remains the top-ranked T20I batter in the world for the longest period, overtaking India’s former captain Virat Kohli.

According to the latest rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday, Babar stayed atop in both T20I and ODI batters rankings.

Pakistan skipper surpassed Kohli to become the longest-serving No.1 T20I batter. Previously, Kohli sustained the top spot for 1013 days to hold the record.

Babar remained in the fourth spot in Test batters rankings. He is currently the only batter who enjoys top four spots across all formats.

Meanwhile, opener Imam ul Haq and wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan retained the second positions in ODI and T20I, respectively, in the latest ICC rankings.

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NEW DELHI: Former Indian explosive opener Virender Sehwag claimed that the bad days for the former India all-format captain Virat Kohli are now over and the better days will arrive soon.

Sehwag, while talking to Sony’s pre-match show Extra Innings, opined on the rough patch of India’s top batter and claimed that he will score big in the final Test against England at Edgbaston.

“Do you remember when was the last time, Kohli scored a century? Even I don’t remember. He would definitely want that he scores big in this Edgbaston Test which is the series decider,” Sehwag stated.

“I think his bad days are over. I think now his better days will come and they have already started. He has scored fifty in both the innings,” Sehwag claimed.

The right-handed batter, however, only scored a fifty in the second innings against Leicestershire as he could only score 33 in the first.

It is pertinent to mention here that Kohli had reached the milestone of 70 international centuries in 2019 and has batted more than 100 innings since then without scoring a century. He scored his last century against Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, India will be touring England to play the previously-postponed fifth and last Test of the series, scheduled to take place from July 1 to 5.

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KARACHI: Pakistan’s legendary left-arm pacer Wasim Akram discussed his approach if he would have bowled to India’s current top batter Virat Kohli.

Wasim, who is considered the greatest left-arm pacer of all time with 916 international wickets in a 19-year career, has the plan set up for Kohli if the two would have come face to face, claiming to be quite confident in himself.

“I would have been quite confident in myself. Two wickets down if he entered the batting at 3 or 4. I would assault them if he was a novice in the crease, will swing the ball either toward or away from him, pitching it on the middle stump,” Wasim shared during the Nashpati Prime program, To Be Honest.

“I might switch to Plan B, bowling the bouncer, if that does not work. The fielder should be placed in the deep, and then brought back inside. It is crucial to take several of these minor changes to take down him,” he maintained.

It is pertinent to mention here that Kohli is going through a rough patch in his career. The right-handed batter, who had scored 70 centuries in international cricket in 2019, has found himself unable to reach three figures in any format since then.

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KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has accused the former Head coach of the Indian Cricket Team, Ravi Shastri for the downfall of India’s top batter Virat Kohli.

Rashid, in a video on his YouTube Channel ‘Caught Behind’ opined on the rough patch of the former Indian captain Kohli and blamed the former Indian coach Shastri for Kohli’s struggle for runs in recent times.

“It is because of him (Ravi Shastri) that this has happened. In 2019, you sidelined a player like Kumble and in came Ravi Shastri. Whether he had the accreditation or not, I have no idea. He was a broadcaster. Had no business in coaching,” Rashid said.

“Barring Virat Kohli, I am sure there would have been other people who played a role in getting Shastri in. But that is backfiring now, isn’t it? Had he (Shastri) not become the coach, he (Kohli) wouldn’t have gone out (of form),” he maintained.

It is pertinent to mention here that Kohli had reached the milestone of 70 international centuries and has batted more than 100 innings without scoring a century in more than two years. He scored his last century against Bangladesh in November 2019.

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