Legendary Indian cricketer Kapil Dev has said that star batter Virat Kohli looked good on his comeback against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2022 campaign opener and it will not take him too long to be back in form. India won their Asia Cup campaign opener against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday by five wickets and chased down the target of 148 comfortably. Virat Kohli was the joint top-scorer in the match along with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, as he played a solid knock of 35 of 34 balls. "Good to see him come back. I saw a couple of shots where he really made an impact. I just want him to be more sure about that. So far, he is coming back, he looked good. He was lucky in the first over when he was dropped. I like his attitude not only today, but from the last ten years. This makes him a bigger player than anyone else," said Kapil in an exclusive interview with ANI.
Questioned on how Virat can evolve from criticism coming his way, the legendary Indian all-rounder said that Virat should understand that he is representing his country.
"It is much bigger than anything else. No player will get runs in every match, no player will get a zero in every match. I think with his ability, his talent, it should not take him that long to come back in form. Just waiting for one big knock, he will be back, I have no doubt about it," he added.
Notably, Virat Kohli has been struggling really hard for form this year. He has also gone over thousand days without scoring an international century.
Since his last international century, he has represented India in 69 matches and scored 2,589 runs across 83 innings at an average of 34.06. He has hit 24 half-centuries across all formats since his last international ton.
2022 in particular has been very tough for Virat.
This year, Virat has played only five T20Is for his side, across which he has scored 116 runs at a subpar average of 23.20. His best score in the format this year is 52.
Across all formats this year, he has represented India in 17 matches and across 20 innings, he had been able to score only 511 runs at a sub-par average of 25.55. Only four half-centuries have come off his bat, with the best score of 79.