England vs India 2022

‘People see hundreds as success’ – Rahul Dravid draws light on Virat Kohli’s current form

Indian Team head coach, Rahul Dravid feels that Virat Kohli inspires many people in the dressing room and is also the most hardworking in the group. Dravid further said that the star batter’s failure to score a century since November 2019 doesn’t mean much as the ‘match-winning contributions’ matter more.

“It’s not always focusing on those three figures like even a 70-odd (79) in a difficult situation in Cape Town (vs South Africa) was a good innings.”

“I disagree when you say he is on the wrong side of 30s. He’s the most hard-working guy I have come across, inspires a lot of people… The way he played in the practice match he’s ticking all the right boxes. I don’t think he needs motivation. People see hundred as success, but we want match-winning contributions from him, whether it’s a 50 or a 60,” the head coach said.

The former Indian captain will be seen in action against the home team England in the rescheduled fifth Test match, starting from July 1 (Friday). He looked in good touch during a four-day warm-up game against Leicestershire as he stroked an excellent fifty.

Kohli scored 218 runs in 7 innings of the 4 Test matches he played in the series last year, averaging 31.14. He couldn’t live up to the standards he had set in the 2018 tour to England, where he scored 593 runs in 10 innings with an average of 59.30.

Team India will be hoping for a huge score from Kohli’s bat as the team’s batting is inexperienced as compared to the last year due to the absence of KL Rahul and skepticism on opener Rohit Sharma’s availability for the Test. Thus the onus of holding the innings together falls on the shoulders of Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.

India is on the verge of winning a Test series on English soil after 15 years as they’re leading the series by 2-1. A win or a draw in the fifth Test could seal the series for India.