Anil Kumble’s Blunt Take on Virat Kohli: ‘He’s Trying Too Hard to Score Runs’

India’s star batsman Virat Kohli faced another disappointing dismissal during the ICC Champions Trophy match against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Falling against the leg-spin of Rishad Hossain, Kohli was dismissed for the fifth time by a leg-spinner in his last six ODIs. This time, Kohli’s attempt to cut a full delivery resulted in a catch to Soumya Sarkar, ending his innings at 28 runs. Former Indian spinner and coach Anil Kumble believes Kohli is trying too hard to score runs and is not playing his natural game.

Kumble’s Analysis

“To start off against spin, on surfaces like that, you need a lot of confidence. He’s certainly trying too hard to manoeuvre that. He’s a good player of spin when he’s in form, when he’s wanting to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike. Now he’s trying too hard to score runs rather than just manoeuvre, and that’s been his game plan,” Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo.

Kumble observed that Kohli is putting additional pressure on himself, which is affecting his performance. “All players go through tough moments in their career, but I get a feeling watching him bat, I think he is putting a lot more pressure on himself. He just needs to relax a little bit and not worry too much about the outcome of what happens on the field rather than just go out there and have the freedom to just go and play naturally, which he does really well.”

*Lean Patch and Recent Performances*

Post the 2023 World Cup, Kohli played in only six ODIs, scoring just one half-century. During the Sri Lanka ODI series last year, Kohli’s dismissals came against leg-spinners Wanindu Hasaranga, Jeffrey Vandersay, and left-arm wrist spinner Dunith Wellalage. In the ODI series against England earlier this month, Kohli fell twice to England leg-spinner Rashid Khan. Kohli also had a lean patch during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where he scored 190 runs at an average of 23.75 in nine innings.

Kumble attributes Kohli’s current struggles to his recent lean patch, especially in white-ball cricket. “Having been through a lean patch, so to speak, especially in white-ball cricket – he hasn’t had that kind of run for a long period of time – I feel he’s trying a bit too hard. You have that in players who have been there and done that before, and everyone sort of looks up to you saying he’s the guy who’s going to take the game away and he’s the one guy who is the important man in the team,” said Kumble.

Advice for Kohli

Kumble advised Kohli to stop worrying and play with the kind of freedom that Indian skipper Rohit Sharma displays. “I think he’s trying a bit too hard. You can see that in the way he is going about his innings. He just needs to not worry about it. Rohit [Sharma] comes in there, has the freedom because there is plenty of batting and all of them are in great form. Similarly for Virat, he just needs to come in and not worry about anything else,” Kumble added.

As India continues their Champions Trophy campaign, cricket fans and experts will be closely watching to see if Kohli can overcome this challenging phase and return to his prolific best.