Delhi: This is not happening for the first time, it has been seen many times in the past also, whenever Virat Kohli is not in the right cricket form or the bat is not supporting him as per his level, then various kinds of allegations are leveled against him and here So much so that, forgetting all his past contributions, he is accused of being selfish and a cricketer who does not play for the team, so it is not surprising if this is happening even after India's defeat in the home Test series against New Zealand. Virat Kohli's not playing in the Duleep Trophy also came into discussion and he scored only 93 runs at an average of 15.50. This is their lowest average in a home series in 7 years and second worst overall.
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Any player, even Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar, appeared 'out of form' at some point in their career and that is why the 'Law of Averages' is much talked about in cricket. So should we accuse Virat Kohli of being selfish by forgetting his past cricket? The truth is that there are many instances in which he truly proved to be a 'team man'. See :
Rajkot Test against England in November 2016: England's attempt to win the Test was almost ended by Virat Kohli (49) and Ravindra Jadeja (32) in the second innings and when the Test was heading towards a draw, English captain Alastair Cook proposed to stop the game there. Without worrying that he needed just one run to complete his 50, Virat did not take the game unnecessarily. He himself was the captain and no one would have stopped him.
-Eden Gardens Test against Sri Lanka in 2017: In reply to India's 172, Sri Lanka scored 294 runs but the mood of the pitch changed during India's second innings and sensing the same, captain Virat Kohli, who was out for 0 in the first innings, turned to coach Ravi Shastri to declare the innings over. When pointed out, he himself was at 97*. Ravi Shastri stopped him. Still, Virat did not take much time and completed his 100 with 6 runs (score 104* – his 18th Test 100 and taking his total to 50 International 100s) and declared the innings at 352/8.
-Guwahati T20 International against South Africa in October 2022: Virat was then on 49* and the opportunity came to reach his 50 with one run but Dinesh Karthik (17* in total 7 balls), who was looking in an aggressive mood, had only strikes and hence refused to take a single. Didn't worry at all about his 50 and was not at all focused on improving the record.
-2017 ICC Champions Trophy Semi-Final vs Bangladesh, Birmingham: Virat was the captain and was batting at 96* in just 78 balls. Then the other partner of the partnership, Rohit Sharma came in a very aggressive mood and started hitting 4. When India won the match, Rohit was on 123* (in 129 balls) and the 41st over was going on, that is, if Virat had concentrated completely on his 100, then who would have stopped him? He was happy with the team's victory and Rohit's 123* and even celebrated his 96* as if he had made 100 because the team had won.
Pune Test against South Africa in 2019: Then Virat Kohli was the captain and declared his innings over on 254* and team score 601/5. This was the first innings of that test, so there was no pressure of time, but I was not tempted to score 300 (I could have been only the third Indian batsman to do so) but let my 300 runs go for the team!
-November 2019 Indore Test against Bangladesh: In response to Bangladesh's 150, the Indian batting froze and when opener Mayank Agarwal completed his 200 runs, he signaled to captain Virat Kohli to declare the innings over. Seeing Mayank's form and India's position in Tests, Virat hinted at him to make his 300 and it was an indication that the work was not done yet.
Everyone knows that Virat has been India's regular number 3 batsman, this is his favorite position to bat and he has made countless records in this batting order but the record is that he is late in leaving the batting at number 3 whenever the team needs it. Didn't put it.
There are many more such examples.
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