“He needs to go back to that formula”

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes Virat Kohli needs to look back on what worked for him during India’s 2018 tour of England to succeed in the WTC final. India will meet Australia at The Oval in the summit competition from Wednesday 7 June.

Kohli had a terrible Test series in England in 2014 and one of the main repercussions was his vulnerability to deliveries off the stump. However, four years later, Kohli ended up making 593 runs in five Tests in the same conditions at an average of 59.3 and two hundred.

Speaking to Star Sports, Manjrekar explained why the former India captain needs to go back to what worked for him in 2018. He said:

“In that 2014 series he used to play in balls that were far off off stump and would have been left up. But what he did in 2018 made me go like ‘Wow, that’s great all the time.’ He just went the old fashioned way of letting the ball off off stump.

“That was the secret of Virat Kohli’s success. He needs to get back to that formula.”

Irrfan Pathan in the current form of Virat Kohli

The past 12 months have been nothing short of exciting for Virat Kohli as he has been scoring goals across formats and seems to have found his mojo. The superstar will enter the final of the World Tennis Championships after amassing 639 runs in 14 matches during the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League as well.

Former Indian cricketer Irrfan Pathan was also present for the aforementioned discussion on Star Sports. He believes Kohli’s self-confidence has helped him get back to his old best.

In this regard, Pathan said:

“He’s a completely different Virat Kohli who also scores a lot of runs. He’s scored a hundred in Tests, T20’s and also in one-day games, so his century drought is over. Such a confident player.”

“He has scored 25,000 runs in international cricket because he believes in himself and his abilities.”

In the absence of an X factor like Rishabh Pant in the middle order against a strong Australian side, India will need Kohli to be firing on all cylinders in the WTC final.