'Not going to defend Virat Kohli but be it Rohit Sharma or...': Dinesh Karthik on batter's failure in Sri Lanka

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Virat Kohli finished the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka with an average of 19.33 - the lowest in the seven bilateral ODI series he has played against Sri Lanka. The star batter got out LBW to spin on each of the three occasions.

The rare back-to-back three failures of Kohli soon became the talk of the town after India succumbed to their first bilateral ODI series defeat against Sri Lanka since 1997. The right-hander batter was dismissed for 20 in the final ODI as the Men in Blue were bundled out for 138 while chasing 249.

Dinesh Karthik, the former India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate of Virat Kohli, has backed the star batter by saying that playing spin was really tough at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

“It’s been a tough pitch to play spin in this series, let’s admit that first. Be it Virat Kohli, be it Rohit Sharma, or be it anyone else. With the slightly semi-new ball between overs about 8 to 30, it’s been hard work. It’s nothing to worry about,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

“Not too many pitches work that way, but it’s been a tough pitch to play spinners. I’m not going to defend Virat Kohli here, but I can tell you that playing spin was very hard,” Karthik added.

Dinesh Karthik, who is set to become the first Indian cricketer to feature in SA20 league in South Africa, also explained why Indian batters struggle after starting to play international cricket.

"When you first end up playing international cricket, you end up playing a lot more quality fast-bowling. But the truth is, when every team ends up playing three fast-bowlers, and at times, four of them with just one spinner or sometimes two, we play on slow turning pitches, which doesn’t happen too often.

"So, when you come from domestic cricket and go into international cricket, you focus on playing fast-bowling and hence, it is understandable of players losing their quality to play spin bowling over a period of time," Dinesh Karthik opined.