Sunil Gavaskar lauds Virat Kohli’s resilience amid bent patch ahead of India-Australia clash in WTC final

The much-awaited World Test Championship final is just a few days away and cricket fans across the globe are eagerly waiting for the clash between India and Australia at The Oval.

Now, as has been the case all these years, a lot of focus will be on Virat Kohli and a lot of India’s fortunes will depend on how well the former captain performs. Kohli has undergone a metamorphosis as far as form is concerned. In March this year, he ended his century drought of 1,205 days in Test cricket by scoring his 29th century against Australia.

After going through a bad 2019, Kohli made a great comeback in 2022 with a century against Afghanistan during the Asia Cup. He carried on his impressive form and emerged as the leading run-getter in the T20 World Cup later that year.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar praised Kohli’s resilience during his bad times and said that much of it was due to bad luck.

“Every player goes through what we call bad patches or lean patches. Then later when he started scoring runs, you must have seen that he was lucky in the initial stages. “The inside edges were missing the stumps, catches were being dropped, or they were falling out of reach of the fielder,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

He also said that Kohli has returned to form as he has an amazing temperament, hunger for runs and strong technical skills.

As far as Kohli’s numbers against Australia are concerned, he has scored 1,979 runs in 24 matches at an impressive average of 48.26. This includes eight centuries and five half-centuries.

He has generally enjoyed the challenge against Australia and hence will be a key member of India. Should conditions favor the batsmen at The Oval, the stage is set for Kohli to find his rhythm and deliver a match-winning performance for his team.