Possible reasons why Virat Kohli failed in ODI series vs Sri Lanka?

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Virat Kohli suffered a series of rare failures in the just-concluded three-match series against Sri Lanka which India lost by a 0-2 margin. The star batter finished the series with an average of 19.33 - the lowest in seven bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka.

All the three ODIs were held at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo - a venue where he has a record of four consecutive ODI hundreds. But scores of 24, 14, and 20 was all he could register this time.

Virat Kohli failed to spin on all the three occasions. All were LBW dismissals. His former RCB teammate Wanindu Hasaranga trapped him in front of the stumps in first ODI. It was Jeffrey Vandersay in the second match, and Dunith Wellalage in the third.

“Virat Kohli lbw three times in three innings against spinners. I don’t remember the last time it happened. He was playing the wrong line and also used up reviews each time. He wasn't quite able to impose himself in the series,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Why Virat Kohli failed in ODI series against Sri Lanka

Lack of preparation: Virat Kohli landed in Sri Lanka just a couple of days ahead of the ODI series and did not get much time to practice. Big players of Virat Kohli's reputation have a certain way of preparations ahead of the series, and the 35-year-old certainly did not have time to go through his drills.

The first day of the practice session was washed out due to rain, and he had only one quality net session before taking the field after a month-long break. After the T20 World Cup 2024 celebrations in India, Kohli had travelled to his family in London where he stayed away from cricket. The intensity was lacking in Kohli.

Not enough cricket in 2024: Virat Kohli missed the first T20I against Afghanistan in January before missing the entire five-match Test series against England. He featured in the IPL before playing eight matches in the T20 World Cup 2024.

Technically, these were Kohli's first three matches in the longer formats of cricket in 2024. In the past, Kohli has flourished when he has played more games. In 2023, he played 24 ODI matches and scored 1377 runs at an average of 72.5. The average was 26.6 from 11 matches in 2022, but 59.9 in 25 ODI matches in 2019.

Except for his match-winning knock against South Africa in the final, Kohli struggled in the T20 World Cup 2024 as well. The lack of quality game time at international level could also have hurt Kohli.

Kohli's struggle against spin not new: The former India batter failing against quality spin bowling is not new. The 35-year-old played three innings in 2021, getting dismissed two times to spin with a dot ball percentage of 34.8% and a strike rate of 92.1.

The following year, he played six innings and got out to spin bowling five times with a dot ball percentage of 44.6% and a strike rate of 79.6. Last year in 2023, he played 19 innings, getting dismissed six times with a strike rate of 85.9 and dot ball percentage of 39.7.