Team India star batsman Virat Kohli, who is playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), is currently going through a poor form.
The aggressive batsman has only managed a paltry 128 runs from nine games. In view of his current form, former Team India coach Ravi Shastri has advised him to pull out of the rest of the ongoing IPL.
“Kohli needs to take a break in order to freshen up his mind. He has played non-stop cricket and captained Indian side in all the formats. It will be wise for him to take a break. Sometimes you have to draw a balance to prolong your international career,” said Shastri.
“Not only Virat, I’ll tell that to any other cricketer. If you want to do well for India, you have to draw the line where you want to take that break and the ideal break would be off-season where India is not playing. The only time India does not play is the IPL. Sometimes, you need to do that or tell the franchise that Ill only play the half. You need to take those tough calls if you want to reach the pinnacle of your career as an international cricketer,” the former all-rounder added.
Shastri also said that Virat has his best cricket ahead of him and the batsman needs to go back to the drawing board and literally start from scratch.
“Virat has still best 5-6 years ahead of him. He would have realised what he has gone through in these last few months. There have been many great players in the past who have gone through this kind of lean phase. Kohli shouldn’t think much about it and he needs to start afresh after a quality break,” said Shastri.
Notably, Virat’s last international century came way back in 2019 against Bangladesh in a day-night Test. Ever since then, the three-figure mark has eluded him.