Former India captain Virat Kohli kicked off his 2022 England tour with a steady, fighting knock on Day 1 of the warm-up fixture vs Leicestershire at the Grace Road Stadium in Leicester.
While India lost five wickets in the first session, Virat Kohli stood tall and looked in good confidence and touch, battling out the swinging and seaming deliveries from the opposition bowling attack, which also included Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna; Bumrah, Krishna with Pant and Pujara had been drafted in the Leicestershire team so that all the players of the Indian squad get match practise.
Virat Kohli tries to balance his bat like Joe Root but it falls quickly
During his knock, one video of Virat Kohli trying to balance his bat and make it stand upright – as Joe Root had done in the Lord’s Test versus New Zealand earlier this month – has gone viral. However, unlike Root, Kohli’s bat fell down quickly in the effect of gravity whereas Root had somehow magically got his bat to stand upright for a longer while.
You can watch the video here:
Kohli tried to make his bat stand upright like Root
pic.twitter.com/PJh32dsDPH
— Chand (@AbhiShake_18) June 23, 2022
Now, here see Root’s magic:
I knew @root66 was talented but not as magic as this……. What is this sorcery? @SkyCricket #ENGvNZ
— Ben Joseph (@Ben_Howitt) June 5, 2022
Well, the real reason for this is that Root’s bat is less curved and a more flat-bottomed willow, which allows the bat to self-balance itself.
Nonetheless, fans on Twitter trolled Kohli heavily, some saying that while Kohli cannot emulate Root’s form, his bat also doesn’t step up to Root’s standards.
Check out some of the reactions:
He ain’t got tht sauce like root mate
— Dipesh (@Wtfdipesh) June 23, 2022
Kohli to Root after this: pic.twitter.com/W3PWFkKURq
— Souvik Roy (@souvikroy_SRT) June 23, 2022
bas aise hi centuries bhi copy kar lo
— ° (@anubhav__tweets) June 23, 2022
he need this at bottom pic.twitter.com/6O2WxzMeK7
— El Camino
(@Siddiiqui_says) Kohli trying a Rooty https://t.co/aYe1a6aR7g
— Kanishk Agarwal (@kanishkdabaav27) June 23, 2022
sadly it’s not a ‘new balance’ bat https://t.co/cjUKq3w2hp
— Aditya Gona (@aditya_gona) June 23, 2022
33 years old kiddo
—
. (@wtf_vaishu) Love this lol good old kohli always second best https://t.co/E7Roil8APC
— Phil dunt (@phil_dunt) June 23, 2022
Chokli failed
— Sir Dinda¹⁶¹ (@ReallyDinda) June 23, 2022
Score
— ˢᵛᵖᵒⁿᵐᵃʸ¹²
like him 
MB-VK (@MahiRatReigns) This bat-balancing competition aside, Joe Root has really been in a surreal form in Test cricket over the last couple of years and has been clearly the best batsman in recent while.
Since the start of 2021, Root has scored 2371 runs at an average of 57 and has raised 10 centuries; in the contrast, Kohli, who has not scored a century since November 2019, has averaged a mediocre 30 since 2021 with 725 runs.
