Virat Kohli Must Overcome Mental Hurdles to Conquer Final Frontier

Captain Kohli must battle demons and a break to lead from the front. India start their series of England on 2 July.

Virat Kohli, after his abysmal tour of England in 2014, has scored runs everywhere against almost everybody. Be it against Australia down under or against the Proteas in South Africa, he has left no stone unturned and has dominated those bowling friendly conditions like a master.

However, to perform well against an opposition at their den, who have been a menace in his previous tour, he definitely needed some special preparation which could only have been fulfilled by a county stint.

The county stint with Surrey, which he was about to undergo after the conclusion of the IPL, could have done him a world of good ahead of India’s grueling contest against England across all formats.

But a neck injury sustained during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s penultimate IPL match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad ruled out that possibility of preparing himself better in order to conquer his final frontier.

Nevertheless, he did get at least two T20Is against Ireland after recovering from injury to gain some much-needed confidence before kickstarting the contest against the English juggernaut.

Kohli, just like his team-mates, would have liked to gear up for the England tour with a couple of thumping performances against Ireland. However, all he could manage in those two matches were just 9 runs which included a duck as well in the first match itself.

He fell victim to Peter Chase on both of those occasions, but one can hardly say that the bowler outclassed Kohli with his deliveries. The Indian skipper was largely unlucky as he was dismissed attempting big shots on both occasions.

But he didn’t look to be at his best; he looked a bit rusty and seemed to be going through some kind of mental block. Kohli doesn’t need to settle down or see off deliveries on most occasions. When he is on song, he can dispatch the first delivery he faces to the boundary with the same audacity, power and grandeur as a batsman does when batting on a score of 90-plus. But it wasn’t the case here.

It happens and players often take time to get back into form after recovering from injuries. More than faults in their techniques, it is often the mental blocks that get the better of the players. Kohli is probably going through that same mental block as he was not able to prepare the way he wanted to in order to gear up for the conquest in which he has failed previously.

If we look back at his previous tour of England, all we can remember is how he danced to the tunes of the English bowlers as they outclassed him with the combination of pace and swing. All he managed back then was 134 runs in 5 Tests and 97 runs in 5 ODIs at dismal averages of 13.4 and 19.4 respectively. The major reason behind such abysmal numbers, however, was some major discrepancies in his technique that he realised and corrected later as well.

In an interview with former England captain Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports last year, Kohli had revealed his faulty technique and how he rectified it.

“I kept looking for the in-swinger and I was in no position to counter the outswing. Firstly, my stance was pretty closed. And then, after my initial movement, I figured out my (right) toe wasn’t going towards point, it was towards cover point. So, anyway, my hip was opening up initially and then to get the feel of the ball, I had to open up my hip because I was too side-on.”

Anyway, I have a strong bottom hand grip; I didn’t have too much room for my shoulder to adjust to the line of the ball, so it was too late for me to react to anything that swung in front of my eyes.

Indian captain Virat Kohli on his faulty technique

So, Kohli rectified these things and the result was there to be seen on his next tour to Australia three months later. He smashed 692 runs in 4 Tests at an average of 86.5 which cleared each and everyone’s doubt about his ability and the will to improve.

Kohli credited Sachin Tendulkar for being able to bring about a much needed change in his technique and the mindset to approach the pace bowlers.

He made me realise the importance of approaching the fast bowler the way you approach the spinner. You got to get towards the ball and you have to give lesser chance for the ball to move around and trouble you

Virat Kohli on Sachin Tendular’s guidance

So, technique-wise, we have seen him at his best in the last four years. We have recently seen him emerging as the highest scorer in the series against the proteas in gruelling South African conditions and that too against a deadly pace attack when other Indian batsmen failed to cope. We have also seen him scoring runs in Australia and West Indies with equal authority. So, there is no reason why he cannot display the same class this time in England.

It's not that he hasn't ever scored runs in England. He has played two Champions Trophies in 2013 and 2017 respectively in this country and also was a part of the ODI side that toured England in 2011.

He scored 176 runs in the 2013 Champions Trophy at an average of 58.66 and 258 runs in the 2017 edition of the tournament at an average of 86. He had also scored an ODI century on his first ever tour to England back in 2011.

So, he should take confidence from these performances whenever thoughts of that dismal 2014 tour crosses his mind.

Moreover, bowlers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad are not the same anymore as they have lost quite a bit of pace and their swinging abilities have waned out a lot as well. The limited overs English pacers are not that good either and Kohli should fancy his chances against them.

So, all he must do now is to get rid of the mental block which makes him doubt himself while taking on the hosts England at their den. His poor returns in the Ireland series will also be at the back of his mind along with his struggles from 2014. But Kohli is mentally very tough and he has shown that on numerous occasions previously.

He needs to have faith and confidence in his abilities because previous outings, numbers and conditions this time suggest that he is still well equipped to handle the English pacers, even without that county stint. If he trusts himself and plays in the same confident way we have seen him playing in the last four years, he will definitely conquer the final frontier of his career.