As Virat Kohli continues on his batting slump, a two-year-old video of the former Pakistani pacer Mohammad Asif is going viral on social media in which Asif is seen making some strong statements in comparison of Kohli with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Babar Azam.
For the first time in his IPL career, Kohli registered back-to-back ducks – both golden ducks.
In 8 innings so far this season, Virat Kohli has managed only 119 runs, at an average of 17 (this is Kohli’s worst season average since 2008 when he averaged 15); he’s failed to hit even a single half-century yet.
Virat Kohli has looked a pale shadow of what he’d been in the previous seasons and has been the most vulnerable he’s ever been in white-ball cricket. In Test cricket, since the start of 2020, he has averaged 28 with 6 fifties in 30 innings.
While fans are shocked with this stark decline in Kohli’s numbers, Mohammad Asif almost knew that not only the batter’s form will dip, but he’ll find it extremely difficult to raise back his game.
In an interview from earlier, Asif was asked to make comparisons between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam. Asif explained that Virat Kohli is a bottom handed batsman while Tendulkar and Babar are upper-handed batters who have more range than Kohli.
“Virat Kohli is a bottom hand player. He’s doing well because of his fitness. [But] when his decline will come, I don’t think he will be able to make a comeback,” Mohammad Asif said.
“Babar Azam is an upper hand batsman, like Sachin Tendulkar; his bat flow is fluent as it was of Sachin. People still say that Kohli is better than Sachin. No – he’s no where even close to Sachin. Because Sachin was an upper hand player – not many people technically know this, this is my opinion.”
You can watch the video here:
Another golden duck for Virat Kohli
#ViratKohli𓃵 #Kohli #IPL20222pic.twitter.com/3AkWF7W1lG
— Muhammad Noman (@nomanedits) April 23, 2022
Meanwhile, many fans and experts, including former India coach Ravi Shastri, believe that Kohli has been overcooked with the life in bubble, a jam-packed schedule and the pressue of expectations, and hence needs a break from cricket to get back his mojo.
