Virat Kohli's form has been a cause of concern for India amidst the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025. Heading into the Champions Trophy on the back of a half-centurion knock in third ODI against England, many thought Virat Kohli has rediscovered his form and found his mojo back. However, Kohli yet again failed to score big in India's Champions Trophy campaign opener against Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, former India batter Robin Uthappa has expressed concern about Kohli's current batting form, suggesting that Kohli appears more focused on middling the ball cleanly rather than accumulating runs.
Kohli was dismissed cheaply for 22 runs off 38 balls in the Champions Trophy clash against Bangladesh. He came to the crease with India in a relatively comfortable position at 69/1 after a good start from captain Rohit Sharma. However, Kohli struggled to get his innings going, facing nine consecutive dot balls against Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Even after finally getting off the mark, he looked uncomfortable against Rishad Hossain.
Robin Uthappa's big advice for Virat Kohli amidst from struggles
Throughout his innings, Kohli appeared out of rhythm, with his only boundary coming from an uncontrolled pull shot. His eventual dismissal came while attempting a cut against Hossain, resulting in a catch at backward point and leaving India at 112/2.
Uthappa advised Kohli to break free from these mental barriers to rediscover his batting prowess.
“Virat, the great batter that he is, will have to address himself because, I think in a sense he's in his head a little bit. It feels like that from the outside. It feels like he's looking to middle the ball versus when he actually is batting well, he's looking to get runs. He's not worried about middling the ball because the intent itself is different. And I think he's trying to break free from that space of trying to middle the ball versus scoring runs and he's finding himself caught in between is what I'm feeling from the outside. I think it's a matter of time, the minute he frees his head up and just goes out there and expresses himself, the runs will flow,” Uthappa said on Star Sports.
Uthappa also feels Kohli needs to make a slight technical adjustment to his batting. The former star batter while dissecting Kohli's batting said his bat came from second slip or third slip when he scored most of his runs. But now it's coming from right at the wicketkeeper or first slip.
“I do think there's a slight technical adjustment that he needs to make. Generally, his bat comes from the 2nd slip or 3rd slip. When he scored most of his runs, his bat generally comes from the 2nd or 3rd slip. Right now you see it's coming from right at the wicketkeeper or 1st slip. And from there, every time he looks to play the cover driver or on the offside, he's gonna not come with a full face of his bat. He's gonna come with maybe 50-60% of his bat, and that also will make that cover driver his favourite shot, a very dangerous shot to play. So, it's something that he will have to kind of figure out, and I hope someone speaks to him about it and helps him figure that piece out, because I think that one bit will make a huge difference. I think he's searching for his feel and form, and it's a very natural thing to happen when you're, when you are short of runs, and I think it's a matter of time,” he added.
Kohli hasn't been in best of his form of late. India's batting maestro has managed only one half-century in his last seven ODIs, amassing just 137 runs during this period. All eyes will be on Kohli in India's next Champions Trophy clash where they will face their arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23 at the Dubai International stadium.