Last year, Team India skipper Virat Kohli, for the first time in 12 years, ended a year without a single century across formats. The barren run was largely due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which halted sporting calendars across the globe.
Virat Kohli, however, had plenty of opportunities to notch up a ton. His last Test ton came against Bangladesh in November 2019 when he lit up the Eden Gardens with his terrific knock in India’s first-ever Day-Night Test.
Since then, Virat has gone seven Test innings without a century in the longest format, leaving fans and experts concerned over his form. He was dismissed for 11 in India’s first innings of the ongoing first Test against England in Chennai.
Having said that, former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar has backed Virat to notch up a big score sooner rather than later. Gavaskar backed his claim by saying that the Indian skipper has always delivered when the team is under pressure.
“Pressure is what brings the best out of Virat Kohli. And we’ve seen that time and again over the years then when he’s got his back to the wall is when he plays his best cricket” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“Sometimes when you’re batting at No. 4 and you’re 200/2 when you go in to bat, you tend to think that batting is easy. He knows now that batting is not easy and he’s got to put everything out there and focus,” he added.
Virat has taken over his captaincy duties, having missed the last three Tests in Australia. The BCCI had granted him paternity leave for the birth of his first child. Gavaskar reckons that the 32-year-old will soon get to the three-figure mark and end his barren run.
“I just think that he is due for a big score. Last year was the first when he didn’t have a hundred, in any form of the game, which is so rare. For the last seven-eight years, every single year, he’s got at least five-six hundreds in all forms of the game.
“Last year, I knew we had the pandemic, but still very rare to see that Virat Kohli did not have a three-figure score. And 2021, he’d be hoping to change that,” he concluded.
The hosts are currently on the back foot in the first Test against England after conceding a first-innings lead of 241 runs. India managed to post only 337 in reply to England’s first-innings total of 578 in Chennai.