The return from a month-long hiatus hasn’t boded well for Virat Kohli. The former Indian skipper was called up by new head coach Gautam Gambhir for the ODI series in order to prepare for the next ICC event, the Champions Trophy 2025. But it has been anything but easy for Kohli.
The batter started things well enough but was bamboozled by Wanindu Hasaranga and had to walk back to the pavillion with just 24 to his name. Not the worst start to a series by any means, but Kohli would’ve expected more from him. It’d hurt even more by the time the match ended, with the game ending in a tie.
When Hasaranga was ruled out of the series, Kohli might have thought that he’d no longer have a leg-spinner troubling him. What he didn’t know was that another wrist spinner was waiting in the wings. Jeffrey Vandersay, who’d last played against Zimbabwe in January, was brought in as a like-for-like replacement.
Rust or real problem vs leg spin
The 34-year-old, who had just 22 ODI caps to his name, would start with Rohit Sharma’s wicket and wouldn’t stop until he had gotten the top six batters into the hut. A truly incredible feat. But it was Kohli’s wicket that was the most important. The run-chase machine hardly if ever disappoints when batting second, and here he was getting dismissed by a leg-spinner for the second consecutive time while chasing a sub-par total.
Kohli averages a astonishing 70.4 against leg spin in ODIs and strikes at 102.4, so what went wrong? The simple answer would be rustiness. He hasn’t played an ODI match since November 19, 2023. Naturally he’d need some time to find his form. In the past couple of years, his perform against spin has went down a little bit and the spin friendly pitches in Sri Lanka don’t help either.
But an issue might be developing. Both times, he got out to a ball that wasn’t a conventional leg spin. Hasaranga got him with a flipper, and Vandersay got him with a googly. Considering the slowness of the pitch, he definitely wasn’t hurried and most probably failed to read the ball from the hand. One would hope that he’s just scratchy and that his reflexes are as good as before.
Virat Kohli’s record vs leg spin in ODIs
| Inn | Runs | Avg | SR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86 | 1408 | 70.4 | 102.4 |
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