It is an open secret that Virat Kohli is struggling with his batting form in the ongoing IPL season. He has managed to get only 175 runs at a strike rate of only 111.09, which is the third lowest among batters with at least 150 runs this season.
Kohli has scored only one fifty in IPL 2022 – 58 off 53 against Gujarat Titans – that too came in a losing cause. Even in that innings, the batting giant looked far from his best. To make things look worse, the poor form is also being reflected in his body language during batting.
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West Indies pacer Ian Bishop observed that Kohli is getting out to different types of bowlers and said that it is a matter of concern.
On Wednesday against Chennai Super Kings, Kohli was cleaned up by Mooen Ali after a laboured 30 off 33 balls. It was a tossed up delivery that was pitched outside off stump and spun into Kohli and disturbed his stumps by finding a big gap between his bat and pad. Bishop said he is concerned about Kohli's struggles against spin, especially off-spin.
"For a while, for 10 or 15 runs, he wasn't even going at a run-a-ball, or he was just going at a run-a-ball," Bishop said on ESPNcricinfo's 'T20 Time Out'.
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"He didn't get ahead, and there wasn't much intent. He hit one (six) over extra-cover off the seamer, and that was when he just went ahead to a run-a-ball and then he came back.
"This is something we've been seeing with Virat, not just this season. Even last season, I remember, and even sometimes internationally, he'll fly out - he didn't fly out tonight - and then he'll slow down again. So, I'm concerned."
Overall, Kohli played 16 dot balls against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday.
"If you're not getting ahead of the rate and going at a run-a-ball, you need to bat deep into the innings," he said.
"And he isn't going deep into the innings either. So those deliveries don't come back to you. Even if RCB won, that wasn't an innings, even given the difficulties of the pitch, that you could say caused a match-winning total."
Pointing out Kohli's struggles against spinners, Bishop said: "Roston Chase got him out in the West Indies series (at home in February), we saw him getting out to the off-spinner in Test matches. So, I'm concerned about ... and I'm a Kohli fan.
"I tune in to watch cricket when Kohli's at his best, so it isn't criticism but an observation that I am concerned that a number of types of bowlers are getting him out and he's not getting ahead of the rate."
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(With PTI Inputs)
