(Cricket news) Virat Kohli has always been a leader right from his under 18 days. He will now have his primary role of a batter in the side for all the formats.The 33 year old has been gradually finding his form in batting which has seen a bit of a decline as compared to the past decade.
Kohli now will not have the additional pressure of leading the team and his ability to score runs with exceptional consistency can be expected soon. The right hander has scored over 23,000 international runs with over 451 matches of experience he is in line to break the run scoring record. He already has 70 international hundreds which is only below Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar.
Talking about leaving captaincy, Kohli said "Everything has a tenure and time period. You obviously have to be aware of that. People might say 'what this guy has done' but you know when you think of moving forward and achieving more, you feel like you have done your job.
"Now as a batsman you may have more things to contribute to the team. You can make the team win more. So take pride in that. You don't need to be a captain to be a leader. As simple as that," he said.
This is his 14th year in international cricket and expectations keep rising every time he steps on the field. The chants of his name still keeps the buzz going in the matches, the aggressiveness did give India major victories and now it's back to the batter Kohli who needs to continue the run scoring saga. Often compared to many batting greats, Kohli has been now used to the audience reactions when he is unable to score a century as he is on his way to break Tendulkar’s century record in ODI’s. He needs 7 more centuries to eclipse Tendulkar’s record although Kohli has played 200 innings less than the legend.
In the 2021 season, he scored 536 runs from 19 innings with four fifties in Test matches. This year he stood as the wall against South Africa in the 3rd Test which indicated that a century is soon in the making. In the 50 over series against the Proteas he scored two 50 plus scores in three matches which will give the confidence for the rest of the year.
Even in T20’s the numbers are in his favour with 3227 runs and is only behind Martin Guptill in the leading run scoring list. He is on top for the team in all the three formats and the stats keep adding up. He scored 299 runs in 8 innings with an average of 75 last season and again the numbers will rise in the upcoming season.
Although his last Test century was in 2019, he did come close to reaching the triple digit mark on numerous occasions. Even in ODI’s it has been three years since he lifted his helmet and pointed the bat to the crowd. Don Bradman and Tendulkar went through similar phases as they had always been a cause for chaos in the stadium. The fans will always cheer for a big score from Kohli and the anticipation will increase from next week when the team gets ready to play against West Indies.
Amid all the controversies, Kohli has always answered back with the bat and this time it will be no different. Although responsibilities have lessened, he is still the country’s top batter in terms of runs and experience. India will always be in need of a batter like him and he has all the right shots to deliver a match winning performance for the team.
Also read: No more the captain, Kohli talks about contributing more as a batter
