Days after he suggested that an “overcooked” Virat Kohli should take a break from cricket, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that Virat Kohli should pull out of IPL 2022 to prolong his cricket career. Shastri’s comments came considering the former India skipper's poor batting form in mind.
The 33-year-old Kohli, who has not scored any international century since November 2019, is now hitting a new low of his cricketing career in the ongoing Indian Premier League. While last year’s IPL saw Virat Kohli finishing the tournament with a mediocre performance (405 runs across 15 games) according to his standard, IPL 2022 finds him in a pathetic situation as the player has managed to score only 128 runs across nine innings at an average of 16. He has scored two consecutive first-ball ducks this season.
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Apart from runs, what is a sign of worry is the fact that Virat Kohli himself has looked underconfident in the tournament and has rarely got his shots from the middle of his bat. To bring a change in the batting line-up after Anuj Rawat’s failure, Kohli’s team Royal Challengers Bangalore even tried him as an opener on Tuesday night against Rajasthan Royals but the batting giant got out early to make things tougher for his side.
Kohli departed for a 9 off 10 balls against RR. This was the sixth time out of the nine innings in IPL 2022 that he got out in the first 10 balls. Shatri repeated his recent suggestion and said that Kohli needs a break.
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"I think a break is ideal for him because he has played non-stop cricket and he has captained the side across all formats. It will be wise of him to take a break,” Ravi Shastri told Star Sports presenter Jatin Sapru on his YouTube channel.
"You know, sometimes you have to draw the balance. This year he is already into the tournament (IPL 2022), tomorrow if push comes to shove and you want to prolong your international career and make a mark there for 6-7 years, pull out of the IPL, for all you care," he added.
The former Indian coach also suggested that other players should also take a break from IPL to make sure their international career goes well.
"Not only Virat, I'll tell that to any other player. If you want to play and do well for India, you have to draw the line where you want to take that break and the ideal break would be off-season where India is not playing and the only time India does not play is the IPL," Shastri said.
