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On Saturday, October 26, Team India suffered a crushing series defeat against New Zealand for the first-time ever in Test cricket at their own backyard. While they lost the opening Test of the three-match series by eight wickets, the Rohit Sharma-led side registered back-to-back defeats, thus losing the series. With the 113-run defeat in the second Test in Pune, they also put an end to their 12-year-old winning streak at home in Test cricket.
Afterwards, captain Rohit Sharma along with veteran batter Virat Kohli were under the radar as they once again failed to capitalise their chances with the bat. Speaking of their number, while Rohit registered scored of 0 (9) and 8 (16) in the two innings, Virat Kohli scored one (9) and 17 (40).
He needs go back to domestic cricket and focus on what needs to be done: Dinesh Karthik on Kohli
Seeing Kohli’s performance with the bat, former Indian wicketkeeper-batter, Dinesh Karthik also did not sit back and schooled him to return to domestic cricket in order to learn what needs to be done. “Virat Kohli has not had it easy, the series has not been good to him, three out of four innings, he has disappointed. It's obviously a recurring partner where spinners have troubled him, and I think he will go and figure out what he needs to do to come out stronger," Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
"He is a man, who is searching for answers. When you reach that level of genius and super stardom, you will be thrown challenges and here is another challenge. India likes to play on pitches that aids spin, what is his game plan?" he added. Although the former Indian cricketer hailed Kohli’s past performances, he also added, "We all know what he is capable of, this series was not meant to be. Like the fans have been saying, he has not done it for a long time, and that we cannot run away from it. We don't want to sugarcoat it because we want to be as objective in assessing any player, any performance, at the moment Virat Kohli's Test record in the last 2-3 years, has not been great against spin.”
"What he needs to do, is probably go back to domestic cricket and focus on what needs to be done with the current rules of DRS. There is no doubt the left-arm spinners pose a big threat," DK concluded. Having amassed only 88 runs from the four innings in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand, it needs to be seen what Virat Kohli brings to the table in the third and final Test, which is set to be played from November 1 onwards at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
