IND vs SA Live: Virat Kohli’s form not concerning – The team management and the selectors might be concerned about Virat Kohli and his Test cricket form but not his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma. Despite not scoring a century in over two years, Sharma believes South Africa is the series where Kohli will get his original form back. Follow India vs South Africa Test series on InsideSport.IN.
The Indian team will lock horns against South Africa in the ‘Boxing Day’ Test match as the three-match Test series kick starts in Centurion. On the last tour of South Africa in 2018, Virat Kohli smashed a century at the Centurion. Rajkumar Sharma hopes to Kohli will repeat that.
IND vs SA Live: Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma confident, ‘Virat will be back in form in SA series’
“Last time Virat played an amazing innings in the Centurion and I hope he will play that once again. All his fans are eagerly waiting to see him perform just like before. He is a mature person. He has been captaining for a long time now and he is passionate about team India’s performance. This time the fans will get to see the original Virat back in form,” Rajkumar Sharma told ANI.
IND vs SA Live: Virat Kohli’s dwindling stats in Tests
- He has averaged just 26.04 since his last hundred.
- He has played 23 innings during the period, scoring 599 runs with just 4 fifties.
- Virat Kohli has failed to score more than 74 runs in an innings in his last 13 Test matches
- Virat Kohli’s percentage of Test win has also dropped to 46.15% compared to 62.26 before the 136 against Bangladesh.
IND vs SA Live: Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma confident, ‘Virat will be back in form in SA series’
But for the 1st Test, the interesting conversation will be about the No 5 spot with three batsmen competing for the spot. Ajinkya Rahane’s spot is under the scanner due to his poor form while Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari have done well to knock on their doors.
“It will be a tough call for team India that should be included in the Playing XI among Rahane, Pujara and Iyer. Iyer secured his place in the team after he scored his century, as this will bring a lot of pressure on the senior players. But it will be interesting to see that with what combination will Team India go,” Rajkumar Sharma added.
IND vs SA Live: Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma confident, ‘Virat will be back in form in SA series’
Rajkumar also said that Team India holds a strong chance of winning this series as they have a balanced bowling and batting line-up.
“Team India have a strong chance to win this series. India never won any series in South Africa earlier and they themselves are a very strong team, especially their fast bowling line-up. It is going to be a tough competition but I still think that India can win,” said Rajkumar.
“India’s bowling unit is also strong and they are capable of scalping all the 20 wickets. The bowling lineup of Bumrah, Siraj and Shami is extremely powerful. The way Siraj has performed and secured his place in the team is really commendable. He is very passionate and enthusiastic,” he added.
IND vs SA Live: Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma confident, ‘Virat will be back in form in SA series’
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