(Cricket news) After a thrilling win over Bangladesh, India are in a very good position to make it to the semi finals. A win against Zimbabwe is all they need to go through. A lot of players like Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and Suryakumar Yadav have stepped up to the task but the star of the show has been Virat Kohli. In 4 matches, Virat Kohli has scored 3 unbeaten half centuries. Two of those innings earned him the player of the match awards as India won both the matches. The only match in which he didn't score a 50 was the one against South Africa which India lost. Even in that innings Kohli looked really good and was a little unlucky to be dismissed.
The innings against Pakistan has already reached a legendary status because it was that kind of a knock at one of the biggest stages in world cricket. Harsha Bhogle after the match against Bangladesh asked skipper Rohit Sharma if he thought “Virat Kohli is back to being like his old self". The Hitman replied that they always believed in him and he has been in incredible form since the Asia Cup and hasn't looked back since. Kohli is definitely back amongst runs which is incredible news for Indian cricket. However it will be awhile before we can consider Virat Kohli to be back to his old self. It was always said that Kohli was never out of form or short of runs, it is just that he hadn't scored a hundred in 2 years which by his standards is a very long time. It won't be wrong to say that during that time Kohli was getting runs without scoring a ton but he didn't look like the Virat Kohli we love.
Virat Kohli during that period wasn't as comfortable or dominating as he usually is. But now he is well and truly back into his rhythm. The reason why he cannot be considered being back to his best is that the Virat Kohli of old was a player who used to consistently dominate all 3 formats. Right now Kohli has recovered his form in just the T20Is which is because India haven't played ODIs and Tests for a while. Kohli will be playing ODIs and Tests against Bangladesh later this year where we'll get the answer. It would be naive to assume that Kohli will most definitely start playing like his old self. He is almost 34 years of age which is usually when cricketers are past their prime.
Kohli getting back to his prime would be a massive achievement but it will be very difficult. Even if he can't go back to his old self and reach only 90% then he will still be the best 3 format player in the world because that's how good prime Virat Kohli was. Nobody in the Indian team will be expecting Kohli to get back to his prime but he still has the potential to be one of the best in the world across formats. His fitness is incredible which means that he still has plenty of cricket left in him. Right now Kohli will be focused on the next match against Zimbabwe after which he will have a chance to do something special in order to win the T20 World Cup for India.
Also read: Dhawan to replace Agarwal as Punjab Kings captain
