Hearing that Virat Kohli won’t take any breaks after West Indies tour, reveals Pragyan Ojha

Recently, Virat Kohli's decision to take a break from India's tour of the West Indies raised many eyebrows across the world. For over two-and-a-half years, Kohli has not hit a hundred at any level of cricket, and many cricket experts and former players thought the West Indies tour could be the one where he would regain his old form back. However, it was not the actual case.

Then, a huge update came from Pragyan Ojha -- one of the members of the IPL Governing Council -- regarding Kohli's availability from now on. Ojha, while speaking on Jamie Alter on his Glance chat show, The Alternate View, revealed that his sources have confirmed Kohli won't take any further break after the ongoing West Indies tour. Ojha also pointed out how regular playing is absolutely necessary to regain any top batter's form and Kohli should follow that.

"By comeback, I am talking about getting runs. Once a batter of his calibre gets a few runs going, then things change drastically. And I am sure as I am hearing that after the West Indies tour, he will be going for all the series thereon. I don't think he will take any breaks, which is a great thing. He should be doing that," Ojha told Jamie Alter on his Glance chat show, The Alternate View.

"I don't think there is an issue in his skill or anything else. He's been batting brilliantly, but sometimes how you handle yourself mentally matters. Keep in mind the schedule. Look at Ben Stokes... he just said 'boss, we're not vehicles that you just put petrol and we start running'. At times his affects everybody. But I am saying that Virat must play every chance he gets because if you don't play how will you get the confidence?"

Further, when asked about a possible reason behind Kohli's frequent breaks, Ojha commented it was all about the mental aspect of the game that the Covid-19 pandemic brought into everyone's life.

"When you look at Virat's batting, it is not about the skill or that he's not timing it well or his fitness has taken a beating. He's just there, and I think better than others with his work ethic and discipline. The only thing is that maybe mentally he's a little caught up somewhere. Maybe that's why he's been regularly taking breaks," Ojha added.

"We have to understand that the last couple of years were very challenging with the bio bubbles and all, and you don't know how it affects someone individually. What Virat has done for Indian cricket, he is getting the right kind of backing, but personally, I feel that he should have been there in the West Indies because this was a great opportunity for him to make a comeback and get some great runs."