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Virat Kohli's poor form in 'testing' home conditions continues

New Delhi, Oct 1: India's Test skipper and star batsman Virat Kohli disappointed with the bat after being dismissed on paltry 9 in the first innings of Kolkata Test match against New Zealand.

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Kohli is going through a rare run drought ever since he slammed his maiden Test double hundred against West Indies. It was third ocassion in a row when Kohli departed against New Zealand without leaving a mark with his batting performance.

Virat Kohli's poor Test form in home conditions continues

He has been in sensational form this year and amassed runs across all the formats but his form has taken a beating in the last 6 innings in Test. Kohli threw his wicket away on previous three ocassions which, perhaps, hint that something is taking a toll over his batting.

Kohli failing to perform repeatedly at home soil:

Last time when Kohli slammed a ton at home, it was way back in February 2013 against Australia at Chennai. He has played 16 innings at home without scoring a hundred, since then.

Here is how he performed at home in last 16 innings:

34, 67*, 1, 41, 3, 57, 1, 29, 22, 16, 44, 88, 9, 18, 9, 45 (Oct 2).

These numbers show that Kohli is unable to perform better at home conditions where the pitches are at the slower side. In the last 10 innings, he has played at home, the Indian skipper has accumulated just 293 runs, and highest being 88.

It is difficult to understand a real reason for dip in his performance at home soil because Kohli has piled up runs under home conditions in shorter format of the game. He was the highest run getter in World T20 2016 and in IPL 2016.

Therefore, it is surprising to see why Kohli isn't able to replicate the same form in Tests.

Is captaincy affecting Kohli's batting?

Kohli became India's full-time Test skipper in the Fatullah Test against Bangladesh in June 2015. He has lead India in 14 Tests since then and scored 734 runs at an average of 36.70 while his overall average is 43.74. He has slammed two centuries, including a 200, and as many fifties since then.

The 27-year-old accumulated 251 runs in the Caribbean averaging 62.75 in 4 Test matches he played, though the fourth Test match was washed out due to rain and India didn't bat in that game.

But, ever since the double hundred at Antigua, Kohli has accumulated just 87 runs in six innings so far with scores of 44, 3, 4, 9, 18, 9 at an average of 14.50. Such figures do no justice to Kohli's stature.

Before start of this match, the Indian 'Run Machine' dismissed the rare run drought by claiming he's not bothered by the poor show in the past three innings. But he, once again, threw away his wicket in Kolkata and at a time when the team was under trouble.

Kohli's failure on third consecutive ocassion definitely raises questions as to why the right-handed batter is failing to score runs in Tests.

This definitely hints that something is affecting Kohli's game and the added responsibility of captaincy over his shoulders could be one of the reasons.

Also, Kohli's dismissals under 20 have increased after becoming captain. Before becoming full-time captain the percentage of his dismissals below 20 was 37.28 per cent. But the same increased to 44.64% after becoming captain.

Kohli averaged 46.30 with 2547 runs in 33 games including 10 centuries and as many half-centuries before taking over the reigns from Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He averages around 36.5 ever since becoming the captain and such stats are not good from Kohli's perspective, for he loves to lead by example.

OneIndia News

Story first published: Thursday, August 3, 2017, 7:36 [IST]
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