'Never thought that would happen': Sanjay Manjrekar explains reason behind Virat Kohli's rough patch
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Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar decoded Virat Kohli's ongoing lean patch in international cricket and said he never thought the Indian Test skipper's confidence will dip.
Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli is currently enduring a lean patch in international cricket as he continues to wait for his first international century since November 2019. While he hasn't scored a ton for over two years, runs have also dried up for Kohli in Test cricket.
Speaking about his rough patch, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar opined the Indian skipper looks low on self-confidence. Manjrekar said he never thought that someone like Kohli, who is known for his consistency and had set high standards for himself with his performances, will see his confidence dip.
Kohli is one of the best batters in the world at present and despite his rough patch continues to average over fifty in all three formats of the game. The Indian Test skipper might not have been at his very best of late but it won't take much time for him to regain his form once he gets going.
“Virat Kohli is a great batter. He’s certainly out of form. It’s the first time I have seen - I saw this in the IPL as well - that he’s a bit low on confidence which I thought would never happen. That’s why they say ‘never say never’. We have seen that because he hasn’t scored runs, his self-confidence has dipped a bit,” Manjrekar said on ESPN Cricinfo.
Kohli played the first Test against South Africa in Centurion where he managed 35 and 18 runs in the two innings before missing the second Test due to a back spasm. However, the Indian skipper has recovered well ahead of the third and final Test against the Proteas and will be looking to notch up a big score in the series decider.
Manjrekar has backed Kohli to bounce back to form in the third Test against South Africa which gets underway in Cape Town from Tuesday (January 11). The former India batsman believes Kohli will be scoring runs consistently once he is back in touch.
“But he’s a great batter and when he’ll score runs, he’ll be back in form because he’ll keep scoring consistently. It’s completely possible that he’ll be back in form in this Test," said Manjrekar.