Everyone went through that drill till about a decade ago.
#THE PATHLESS PLATINUM HOW TO#
Bio-bubble fatigue is real and it drains players in ways they have never experienced before, and long breaks are things most current players don't know how to handle either.įor the longest time, the only way to get back into form for a top player was to play as much cricket as possible, even if it meant playing at a slightly lower level. There were long disruptions in cricket due to Covid, and also, Kohli expressed a desire to take breaks, which he did not do when he was at the peak of his powers, when he more or less wanted to play every day, if that was possible. There are two things that have happened in the last two years that had not happened before with Kohli. Yes, Kohli is edging more frequently than he used to, but is it the only mode of his dismissals? Once again, I'm not suggesting that there isn't a technical issue - nobody is perfect - but the length of this dry spell suggests there's more to it. But these limitations did not stop those players from becoming very successful international cricketers. So is it a technical problem that Kohli is facing? Is it his commitment to the long front-foot stride (the same commitment that got him thousands of international runs) or is it the front foot going too far across now, making him prod at balls outside off? (Remember, Ricky Ponting's front foot went a lot further across.) Or is it that he doesn't have a strong back-foot game through the off side and bowlers have finally figured it out? After all, there is a World Cup starting in about eight weeks. But it's also important that it happens soon enough, for the sake of his and India cricket's immediate future. In fact, considering all that he has achieved, his commitment to his fitness and his fighting spirit, the chances that he will be able to produce an encore are high. I'm in no way suggesting that Kohli's story is remotely close to its final pages. This is a basic cycle in a cricketer's career, repeated many times over, and ending in a final goodbye. Eventually you find a way out of the hole… for a while, and then you don't. Technical first, because it's tangible, and then the mindset: positive thoughts, visualisation, and so on. Such a chain might start with a cocky mindset that allows a mistake to creep in in the first place too. You then start introspecting and doubt becomes a constant companion.
Until it becomes too much to handle and you lose your rhythm, which results in the mindset not being the same anymore. Here's a cycle of events: a slight technical glitch creeps into your game unknowingly but you ignore its presence because you're able to handle it for a while with a superior (read, positive) mindset. When a player goes through a rough patch, the conversation has only two places to go - is it a technical problem or a mental one? In my limited experience, both are intertwined often one leads to the other and nobody can determine what came first, chicken or egg. I am guilty of indulging in a couple of them, which I shall elaborate on later in this article. There are dozens of theories floating around about what might have gone wrong and how and when this dreadful spell might end.
#THE PATHLESS PLATINUM PATCH#
It has been a rough patch that has lasted a lot longer than any of us thought it might - Kohli included, perhaps. Okay, I shall now leave the metaphors behind and focus on the issue at hand. That is why you are always remembered for how you lived and not for how you died.
The aura of invincibility has faded and his presence doesn't instil the same fear in bowlers' minds as it used to earlier.īut let's be honest: this has happened to everyone who has played the game before him. Still, there's also no hiding from the fact that the bat that worked like a magic wand isn't obeying his commands anymore. A man who did superhuman things and mastered all three formats like almost no others. There's no doubt in anyone's mind about Virat Kohli's class and his skills, and even if he doesn't score another run in international cricket from here on, he will still be regarded as one of the greatest to have played the game.
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