Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said on Tuesday he is hopeful that Virat Kohli will achieve great heights once again the ODI World Cup year and he is the player to watch out for in 2023. The cricketer-turned-analyst said Kohli will be under less pressure in the ODI format, which will allow him to regain his peak form and regain the consistency that he was known for in this format.
Virat Kohli ended a long wait for an ODI hundred when he went past the three-figure score against Bangladesh in December last year. Kohli hit 113 from just 91 balls in the 3rd and final ODI of a 3-match series in which Ishan Kishan hit his maiden double hundred. However, Kohli’s form was inconsistent in 2022 with the former captain managing just 302 runs in 12 matches at an average of less than 28.
Since the 2019 World Cup final, Kohli has managed 1185 runs, the third most by an India batter in ODIs with 3 hundreds and 10 fifties.
“It’s 2023, it’s a 50-overs World Cup year. The 50-overs format is brilliant for people who want to get into form. Guys who are short on confidence. It’s going to be great for Rohit Sharma. 50-overs cricket is right down his lane, he is already an all-time great. The 50-overs format suits him the most,” Manjrekar said. “In 50 overs format, 65 percent of the runs that are scored are in ones and twos, and Virat Kohli loves getting his runs through ones and twos. This will take the pressure off. T20Is, he feels the pressure of going after the bowling. This might just be a brilliant year for Virat Kohli to come back to his original heights,” he added.
Manjrekar said it’s unfair to say Virat Kohli underwent a lean patch, highlighting that the former skipper came up with useful contributions despite not getting to 3-figure scores, consistently.
“See, he has got those innings. Let’s be fair. Even when the hundreds haven’t come, he has scored runs, he has been in form. We have said multiple times in the last two years that he has been in form. But, the form doesn’t carry on. After a hundred, the next two-three innings are not big scores. That’s what we are waiting for. This format will allow him. It will give time for Virat Kohli to be the consistent player that he was known as,” he added.
