Kohli's dwindling form magnifies India's growing middle-order struggles

Virat Kohli wears his heart on his sleeves. It's a trait that stays, whether it's about taking on the most fearsome of fast bowlers, rescuing his side from tough situations, keeping his head high even when things aren't going his way, or facing the camera during a media interview. His interaction with Dinesh Karthik ahead of the big English Test challenge was a riveting one, where he touched on a variety of topics. Over the years, it's his self-belief that has taken him to greatness. He's one of the best batsmen the world has ever seen, and there's no love lost if he expresses and reaffirms that.

A lean patch has never evaded any professional athlete and Kohli remains no exception. Unfortunately for India, his poor run has coincided with that of the other two Test batting stars of the side, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, which magnify the concerns further. The trio makes up for the backbone of the Indian batting line-up with experience of 255 Tests to the team. No wonder India are in a spot whenever they fail collectively. 

As evident, they have significantly struggled, with averages in the mid-20s. Barring Ajinkya Rahane, no one else has scored a hundred, despite playing a considerable number of Tests. The combined efforts put them behind four other Test teams, in terms of collective contributions from No. 3, 4 and 5 in the period.

India have the second-worst returns in the period, and barring West Indies, no other team even averages lesser than 36.95, which reflects poorly on the inaugural WTC finalists.

While Virat Kohli's concerning form can still be overlooked to an extent, the same can't be said about Pujara and Rahane. For Ajinkya Rahane, a man who made a name for himself with his stellar overseas performances, the recent downward spiral has been steep. To put things into perspective, since the start of 2017, only once has he averaged more than 38.85 in any calendar year, which is clearly below par for a premier middle-order Test batsman. He has delivered some high-quality knocks under pressure situations, but they have been too infrequent.

For the senior duo of Pujara and Rahane, they have always come with a risk and reward factor for India in Tests but with Virat Kohli also starting to fare terribly, their troubles appear all the more magnified. While Kohli remains undroppable, given he's India's best batsman across conditions, besides being the skipper of the side, the pressure has started to mount on both Pujara and Rahane, perhaps more than ever before. A second-ranked Test team can't afford to have their most experienced Test batters underperforming for too long. 

For now, the brilliance of Indian openers and Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant has been serving Kohli's men fine. However, the over-reliance could well hurt them in the long run, as it did in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. Each of the big three might just be one good outing away from a glorious run to follow. India certainly need that to come soon, as they seek their first Test series victory in England since 2007.