Star India batter Virat Kohli announced his Test retirement just before the five-match series against England, starting June 20. Since COVID-19, the 36-year-old has struggled heavily to get going in the format, scoring just 2028 runs in 39 matches (69 innings) at an average of 30.72. He has been trapped outside off-stump several times in this phase, but yet, Kohli showed little to no signs of improvement.
In the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia got him out eight times in the same fashion, which gave birth to speculations about his format. However, since he featured in the Ranji Trophy match against Railways, Kohli was expected to continue in the longest format of the game but instead, he announced his retirement during the IPL.
Now, ahead of the marquee series between England and India, legendary cricketer Joe Root analysed Kohli’s struggle and noted that there’s no breathing space during a Test series and so, it’s difficult for the cricketers to make technical adjustments to their game.
“Every player is different. If you’re in a five-match Test series and there’s something in your game that doesn’t sit well with you, it can be difficult. You haven’t got time to go and get two weeks off to work on that thing. There’s no breathing space unless you make a drastic change within a Test. But then you’re playing against some very high-quality players in their own conditions. And let’s not forget, a lot of people will keep mentioning how you got out!” Root told the Times of India.
Root highlights the pros and cons of making technical changes
Root also highlighted that every technical change that a cricketer makes also has its own pros and cons. He reminded that the star batter managed to score a century in the opening game against Australia in Perth last year, but the bowlers figured him out, and Kohli couldn’t focus on making technical changes in such a short span.
“Kohli still got 100 in that first Test (in Perth), which India won. It’s all about what you can do to wrestle things back in your favour — whether it’s a change of guard or batting out of your crease or in your crease, or to try and create width by staying leg-side of the ball rather than feeling like you’ve got to make technical changes in that short span. Whenever you make a change, there could be massive pros to it and slight cons to it. You’ve got to work out if it’s worth doing each and every time,” he added.