‘Virat Kohli's Test form…’: Aakash Chopra’s Scathing Assessment Of King Kohli’s Current Form

Aakash Chopra criticized Virat Kohli's current form. [Source: @cricketaakash/X & PTI]Aakash Chopra criticized Virat Kohli's current form. [Source: @cricketaakash/X & PTI]

Former India captain Virat Kohli finds himself in the middle of severe criticism yet again. With India losing their first home Test series in 12 years, Kohli’s form has become the talk of the town.

In such situations, certain players are generally made scapegoats. Kohli’s case, however, is different because his form is one of the reasons behind India’s unparalleled winning streak coming to an end. Hence, most of this criticism is justified at a time when fans are questioning his place in the Test squad in spite of the national selectors retaining faith in him for the upcoming tour of Australia.

Aakash Chopra’s Scathing Assessment Of Virat Kohli’s Current Form

Former India batter Aakash Chopra has joined the bandwagon in terms of finding faults in Kohli’s form. Chopra, a keen observer of the game, passed a scathing assessment of the same in one of his recent YouTube videos.

Chopra supported his opinion by providing Kohli’s substandard numbers in the format in the last five years. In addition to the lack of runs, Chopra also noticed a significant lack of centuries from the 35-year old player.

"Is Virat Kohli's Test form a concern? He has scored only two centuries in the last five years. It's a concern if you see his numbers for the last five years and that was before the start of this Test match,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel named Aakash Chopra.

“He played only six innings in 2020 and had an average of 19. He played 19 innings in 2021 but had an average of 28, with no century. In 2022, he played 11 innings, again an average of 26, with no century. He did score two centuries in 2023 for sure, the average jumped to 55, but let's also remember that one century came in a drawn game on a flat pitch in Ahmedabad. You won't rate that too much.”

How Bad Are Virat Kohli’s Test Numbers?

Speaking particularly of the last five years, Kohli has scored 1,969 runs at an average of 33.94 and a strike rate of 50 including three centuries and nine half-centuries. As far as playing home and away is concerned, there isn’t much difference on the back of respective averages of 34.96 and 33.57.

In the preceding five years, Kohli’s 5,211 runs had come at an average and strike rate of 63.54 and 60.90 respectively with the help of 20 centuries and 13 half-centuries. At the time, Kohli’s home and away averages were 77.66 and 54.04 respectively. Therefore, to answer the aforementioned question, Kohli’s Test form is surely a concern.