Home
In order to improve his red-ball form, former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik believes Virat Kohli should return to playing local cricket. Karthik voiced his worries about Virat Kohli's incapacity to perform in the current Test series against New Zealand and his difficulties against spin. India lost the series after 12 years at home after Kohli's poor performance in the second Test match against New Zealand in Pune. Mitchell Santner, a left-arm spinner, dismissed Kohli on both occasions when he could only muster 1 and 17 runs in two innings.
"Virat Kohli has not had it easy, the series has not been good to him, three out of four innings, he has disappointed. It's obviously a recurring pattern where spinners have troubled him, and I think he will go and figure out what he needs to do to come out stronger. He is a man, who is searching for answers. When you reach that level of genius and super stardom, you will be thrown challenges and here is another challenge. India likes to play on pitches that aids spin, what is his gameplan?" said Dinesh Karthik while speaking to Cricbuzz.
With an average of 33.38 in the format and 24 dismissals against spin in 50 innings since 2021, Kohli's performance against spin is concerning. The latest Test century that Kohli scored was his 29th in July 2023. To save some honour for his team, the seasoned hitter would be hoping to make a return in the third and final Test.
The fact that Kohli has not made many significant runs in the Test format in a long time was brought home to him by Dinesh.
"We all know what he is capable of, this series was not meant to be. Like the fans have been saying, he has not done it for a long time and that we cannot run away from. We don't want to sugarcoat it because we want to be as objective in assessing any player, any performance, at the moment. Virat Kohli's Test record in the last 2-3 years, has not been great against spin," said Karthik.
