“Power Game Is Back…”: Ex-India Star On How Virat Kohli Turned The Tide

Virat Kohli finished as India’s highest run-getter in the 2022 Asia Cup and since then continued his good form in the just-concluded T20Is against Australia.

Virat Kohli has got back his “power game” and things have started falling in place for him ahead of the T20 World Cup, feels former India Test cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar. Kohli had endured a lean patch for nearly three years before he decided to take a month-long mental health break while reinventing himself during last month’s Asia Cup. He finished as India’s highest run-getter and since then continued his good form in the just-concluded T20Is against Australia, where his half-century in the series decider gave glimpses of vintage Kohli that the fans have been yearning to see.

“See, right from the Asia Cup every match that he got runs, not just the runs, there was some improvement coming. I think the power game is back, he’s trusting his power game. There was a time when he was getting runs but his power game was not coming. That is starting to happen,” Manjrekar said on Sports 18.

The fact that he is being able to hit good balls for boundaries is a welcome sign, said Manjrekar.

“He’s dispatching good balls for big boundaries and sixes. It’s all about confidence, this is a guy who’s damn self-confident and drives himself to excellence but for long-time runs weren’t coming and his confidence was tender,” he said.

Kohli was the second highest overall run getter in the Asia Cup, scoring 276 in five innings at an average of 92.00, a strike rate of 147.59 with two half-centuries and a ton.

“During the Asia Cup, slowly and steadily, certain things start to happen, the pull shots came in, and the sixes started going more into the stands than just going over the rope as it was going in the IPL. So, the pieces falling back to frame the perfect picture. Now it’s all about putting all these kinds of performances in the main event,” Manjrekar said.

In the following three-match T20 series against Australia at home, which India won 2-1, Kohli totalled 76 runs from three innings at an average of 25.33, with 63 being his highest individual score.