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Virat Kohli Vs Adil Rashid: How The Wily Spinner Has Been A Nightmare For India Great?

Anurag Dasgupta

How Rashid has troubled Kohli [Source: AP Photo] How Rashid has troubled Kohli [Source: AP Photo]

Virat Kohli is a champion cricketer but even the greats of the game have some or the other weakness. For Kohli, it is the leg-spinners in ODI cricket. The Indian batter loves playing in this format, but if there is one chinks in his armour, it is the guile and skill of a leg-break bowler.

His trouble against the leg-spinners continued in the ongoing series as Adil Rashid made him his bunny, not once, but twice. In the Cuttack ODI, Rashid bowled a brilliant leg-break and caught the outside-edge, and a similar incident happened in the 3rd ODI as well.

For starters, Kohli looked tentative against Rashid and also survived a close lbw call. However, despite breaching the 50-run mark, Kohli once again fell victim to the guile of the England spinner and was dismissed for 52. Why Rashid troubled him? decoded here.

Virat Kohli Vs Adil Rashid: Decoding the dominance by England spinner across formats

Criterion
Data
Runs
473
Balls faced661
Wickets11

The stats say it all. Kohli has dominated Rashid with his batting, but at the same time, the England spinner has made him his bunny across formats.

While Kohli has scored 473 runs against Rashid, the spinner has also taken his wickets 11 times across formats.

Virat Kohli stats Vs Rashid in ODIs

Criterion
Data
Runs112
Balls faced130
Dismissals5
Average22.4

In ODIs, Rashid has certainly dominated the Indian batter. While Kohli has scored 112 runs, the spinner has scalped his wicket 5 times, and Kohli only averages 22.4.

Why Kohli struggles against Rashid?

Rashid is a street-smart spinner and has a brilliant googly, something which deceives the batters. Kohli also falls in the same trap as he waits for the googly, but gets beaten by the leg-break.

The same thing happened in the first two ODIs of the series as Kohli was dismissed in similar fashion. In both the matches, Kohli was waiting for the googly, but Rashid used his skills and foxed him with a leg-break.

Also, the Indian batter doesn't use his feet much against the spinners and on both the occasions, he didn't reach to the pitch of the ball to negate the spin.