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Sanjay Manjrekar believes Virat Kohli is struggling with confidence and his inability to hit big shots like Shubman Gill is making his life even more difficult.
Virat Kohli (Image: AP)
Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes a lack of hitting ability and dented confidence since the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy is behind Virat Kohli’s underwhelming form in ODIs. Manjrekar also said that Kohli has been showing ‘bravado’ and persistence with his body language in the 2025 Champions Trophy but that’s only veiling his lack of confidence because no cricketer wants to reveal ‘what’s inside’ them.
In his latest innings, Kohli got out for 22 in India’s Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh on Friday. It was his 12th innings without a century, a run that began after the first BGT Test in Perth. Worryingly Kohli lost his wicket to leg-spinner, Rishad Hossain — the third time in as many ODI innings he had been dismissed by a leggie. The pattern is becoming similar to his outside off-stump troubles against pacers in Australia.
“He still wants to show that he’s up there for a fight, and I am starting to see maybe there’s a little bit of bravado as well, and why not? You can’t be revealing what’s inside you. Virat doesn’t have the big game anymore. We’ve seen on occasion him playing the big shot, but he can’t hit at will like a Shubman Gill does,” Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo, as quoted by PTI.
“What happened is, after that hundred in Australia (in Perth in the first Test), had he just carried on that form… you know it’s a confidence thing as well – when you’re out of form and you don’t have confidence you suddenly don’t quite get that power and the courage to hit the big shots. At this stage, I’m looking at him and feel that he is down on confidence.”
Manjrekar said that spinners understand Kohli’s lack of aggressive game and are attacking him, which his exposing his weaknesses on turning tracks.
“When he comes into bat, the spinners come on. And once the spinners know that you’re not going to be hitting them for three sixes straight down the pitch or over midwicket… they bowl the kind of deliveries they’ll get wickets off because they don’t fear backlash from the batter. So he’s cornered in a way. What he needed in this tournament are flat pitches like the ones in Pakistan. But if he finds a way out of this and he finds another peak of Virat Kohli, that will tell you a lot more about the man and how he’s built,” Manjrekar added.
India will now clash against Pakistan for their next group-stage game on Sunday.
