Dinesh Karthik defends Virat Kohli’s poor form in ODI series against Sri Lanka

Dinesh Karthik defends Virat Kohli amid criticism, offering insights on his poor form during the series against Sri Lanka.

Dinesh Karthik defends Virat Kohli’s poor form in ODI series against Sri Lanka

Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli (Via X)

Indian star batter, Virat Kohli, put on a horror show on the turning tracks against Sri Lankan spinners in the three-match ODI series. However, former India wicket-keeper, Dinesh Karthik feels it was very difficult to play on these wickets as the ball was turning square and ODI matches won’t be played on these type of wickets generally.

The Indian batters had to really toil hard for the runs. It felt like there could be a wicket off every ball after the powerplay. Sri Lanka utilized their home advantage beautifully and put the pressure on an Indian team which has not played any ODI for over six months.

YouTube video
It’s been a tough pitch to play spin in this series, let’s admit that first. Be it Virat Kohli, be it Rohit Sharma, or be it anyone else. With the slightly semi-new ball between overs of about 8 to 30, it’s been hard work. It’s nothing to worry about. Not too many pitches work that way, but it’s been a tough pitch to play spinners. I’m not going to defend Virat Kohli here, but I can tell you that playing spin was very hard.
Dinesh Karthik told Cricbuzz

Kohli looked clueless against the spinners and failed to judge the line and length consistently. It was surprising to see a batter of such a stature struggle against spin.

RELATED
“It is important she takes care…,” Kuldeep Yadav finally breaks silence on his future spouse
Kuldeep Yadav finally breaks silence on his spouse

Virat Kohli has not been good against spin of late

Kohli was not playing well in the T20 World Cup 2024 until the final when he stood up and scored 76 runs to pave the way for India’s victory. He then announced his retirement from T20I cricket to focus on ODI and Test cricket.

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli (Image via Imago)

He was back for the ODI series against Sri Lanka under new head coach, Gautam Gambhir. However, the series turned out to be a horror show for India’s chase master. Kohli found it tough to get going against the crafty Sri Lankan spinners on slow and turning wickets.

Kohli scored 24,14 and 20 respectively in the three matches and got LBW against the spinners in all three games. It was clearly evident that Kohli was missing the line and length and also had trouble deciphering the degree of turn.

The man with 50 ODI centuries had the opportunity to become the fastest to 14,000 runs in ODI cricket surpassing Sachin Tendulkar. However, he now has to wait for the next ODI series against England in 2025.

Sri Lanka managed to beat India by margin of 2-0 with the first game ending in a tie. The Indian batters barring Rohit Sharma looked clueless against the Sri Lankan spinners during the run chase. Kohli will next be seen in action during the Test series against Bangladesh in September.

In case you have missed: