Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson feels Virat Kohli will be mentally and physically rejuvenated when he returns from a month-long break ahead of the Asia Cup 2022, kickstarting later this week.
Hailed as the modern legend of the game, Virat Kohli has endured a prolonged run drought and is struggling to score a century. He last scored an international century in a test match in November 2019 and ever since then, the fans have been waiting for his 71st century.
He even endured a disastrous run in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League and during the England tour, where he failed to produce some big knocks. Virat Kohli, who had stepped out of the captaincy responsibilities earlier this year, has also missed several series this year in order to manage the workload.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli will be making his return to the Indian team when India takes on arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday to begin their Asia Cup title defense. With the T20 World Cup 2022 and Asia Cup 2022 just around the corner, Kohli’s form has become a grave concern for the Indian cricket team.
Shane Watson believes India’s Virat Kohli is too good a player to languish in a funk for long. Watson expects him to return to action at the Asia Cup rejuvenated after a month’s rest. He said:
“This month that he’s had off cricket will make sure that that light’s shining very bright going into this Asia Cup, knowing there’s a T20 World Cup in Australia coming up as well,”
“…for Virat to be able to have some time off, especially a month, that’s just going to regenerate everything he needs to be able to take stock of what happened, freshen up mentally and physically.
He added:
“He’s too good not to be able to find his groove. It’ll only take him a couple of balls, get into the battle again, and away he goes.”
India’s squad for Asia Cup 2022:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan Standbys: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, and Deepak Chahar
Pakistan squad for Asia Cup 2022:
Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
