Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin had nothing but praise for Virat Kohli following the latter's significant improvement in his ODI form. Virat had amde his long return to international cricket in India's tour of Australia in October and though he recorded ducks in the first two games, he played a vital inning of 77* in the third and final match. The 37-year-old then went on to score two hundreds and a fifty in the three-match series against South Africa before playing a match-winning knock of 93 against New Zealand in the first ODI.
Ashwin's take on Virat's form
Ashwin believes that Virat hasn't changed anything when it comes to his technique, but has rather rediscovered the joy of playing the game. He further opined that the batter is playing with more freedom than before and is not thinking much about the outside noise.
“It looks like nothing is going on in his mind. You asked me what he has changed — he hasn’t changed anything; he is just not thinking about anything," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"He made a decision that he just wants to enjoy his cricket. It seems like he is batting with the freedom of his childhood, combined with the experience of so many years. When you take joy from the game, and when you are in the right space in your life, you can play like this," he added.
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Virat has scored a total of 463 runs in seven games ever since making a return to international cricket. He has maintained a stunning average of 93.8 and has totally been dominant over the opposing bowling attacks. He was named as the Player of the Match during his recent outing against New Zealand after he massively helped India in winning the match by four wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Virat's recent appearance in Vijay Hazare Trophy
Meanwhile, Virat had also recently featured for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and had continued his stellar form. He first played a superb knock of 131* against Andhra Pradesh and followed that up by hitting 77 runs against Gujarat. The batter will be looking to continue his golden run of form in the second ODI against New Zealand that will be played at the Niranjan Shah stadium in Rajkot on January 14.