Basit Ali Blame Virat Missing Series For Bad Form: Former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali believes that had Virat Kohli not missed the five-match Test series against England at home last year because of the birth of his son, he would not be in the poor form he has been in recent months.
Kohli, despite being the senior-most and the most high-profile cricketer in the Indian Cricket Team, has not been in the best form over the past year, especially in Test cricket. This came to light during India’s recent 3-1 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Basit Ali Blame Virat Missing Series For Bad Form
While the entire Indian batting order was disappointing, veterans Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma utterly failed to carry the team on their shoulders. In the nine innings in the series, the former Indian captain scored just 190 runs at an average of 23.75. And while he did score a century in the first match, he failed to cross the 40-run mark for the rest of the series, getting out to the same shot every time.
The 2024-25 season of Test cricket for the Men in Blue started with a five-match home series against England. While India ended up winning that series 4-1, there was a major absence from the home team squad, that being Virat Kohli. The 26-year-old missed the series due to the birth of his son, Akaay; there was then a seven-month gap in Test cricket for India, as there was a whole cycle of limited-overs cricket for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
When India returned to the longest format of cricket in September, they took on Bangladesh in a two-match Test series at home. While the Indian Cricket Team won both games, Virat did not show the best of himself as a batter, scoring 99 runs in four innings at an average of 33.
Then came the disastrous three-match home series against New Zealand. Having lost only two Test matches to the Kiwis at home in history and not losing one in over 30 years, not only did India lose the series, but they were whitewashed 3-0. This was not only India’s first Test series loss at home in 12 years, but the first whitewash at home for a national team of independent India.
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And to no one’s surprise, Virat failed to perform when India lost against New Zealand, scoring 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.5.
Virat Kohli’s recent poor form over the last year has been the point of discussion in cricket for some time. Now, former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali has chimed in with his thoughts about the whole ordeal.
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Ali reckoned that had Kohli not missed the England series due to the birth of his son and had played on the batting-friendly pitches in that series, he would not be in the form he is now, saying,
“Had Virat Kohli played the Test series against England and not missed it for the birth of his son, he would’ve been a different player. The pitches were brilliant for the first two days before they started to break.“
India will now take on England in a three-match T20I series at home. However, due to retirement from the format following their triumph in the T20 World Cup last year, Virat will not play in this series. He will now be seen in Indian colours in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, to be played in February in Pakistan and the UAE.
Check Out: Basit Ali Blame Virat Missing Series For Bad Form
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