IND vs NZ | Virat Kohli has to wait patiently for a international hundred, feels VVS Laxman

12/05/2021

Former India cricketer VVS Laxman has opined that Virat Kohli should wait patiently to end his century drought as he doesn't have any technical deficiency stopping him to score a hundred. Kohli’s last international hundred was against Bangladesh in November 2019 in a day-night Test in Kolkata.

India are playing against New Zealand in the second fixture of the two match Test series in Mumbai with them heading for a victory as they require five more wickets to win while the visitors have a mammoth target of 540 runs with two days to go. India declared their innings on 276/7 and set a huge target for the opposition but Virat Kohli was dismissed, on 36 runs, from a delivery by Rachin Ravindra as he dragged a delivery onto the stumps.

Kohli’s century drought has been a worrying sign for the team as his last international hundred was against Bangladesh in November 2019 when he scored 136 runs. Reflecting on Kohli’s wait for an international century, Laxman said that the batsman is strong mentally and has looked in control during his stay at the crease.

"It’s not about the mindset. The fact of the matter is, till the time Virat Kohli is on the crease, everyone thinks ‘today is the match, today is the innings where he is going to get that 3-figure score’,” he told Star Sports.

“Till the time, he is in the middle, he is in complete control. It happened in a couple of matches in England. It happened in Adelaide where he was dominating the Australian attack before being run out by Ajinkya Rahane. Even today, the shot that he played was unfortunate, the ball came very slow, there was an inside edge and he got bowled.”

Kohli was dismissed for a duck in the first innings and was unable to convert the start into a big score. Notably, he has scored 483 runs in 17 innings at an ordinary average of less than 29 in 2021 and Laxman opined that the India captain has to wait patiently for a hundred and once he gets it he will regain his rhythm.

"I just think he has to wait patiently. If there is a pattern in the way he is getting dismissed, when he is out there in the middle if he is struggling to time the ball, if he is struggling to get on top of the ball, then it’s a problem. I don’t think he has that problem,” he stated

"I just think it’s about him going out and playing a long innings and once that long innings comes, once he gets to that milestone, we all know what Virat Kohli can do."

Kohli will now lead the Test squad for the series against South Africa starting from December 26.