Simon Doull wonders if Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have the mental fortitude to turn around their slump in form in Test cricket. Both Kohli and Rohit haven’t had the best of times in the New Zealand series as their poor form did play a role in India’s defeats in Bengaluru and Pune.
In the 3 matches so far, Kohli has scored just 92 runs while Rohit has got 80. This is after both men scored fifties in the 2nd innings of the Bengaluru Test. In Mumbai, while Rohit struggles against pace continued. Speaking to JioCinema, Doull said during such slumps people tend to look within themselves for an answer to change things around.
The commentator said that both men have the ability to turn things around, but it comes down to the mental fortitude and the wherewithal to turn things around.
“From when you’ve been at such a high level and and you have a little form slump or things just aren’t quite working out you look for things within yourself. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to change something? Are the eyes just slightly less as effective as they were five years ago when I was seeing everything like a pumpkin. They do grow on you as you get a little bit older. Rohit is in the same boat.”
“So can they turn it around? Do they have the ability? Absolutely. I mean, we know the skill. We know the skill level of how well they can play. It is, Do they have the mental fortitude and the wherewithal to turn it around? Because sometimes it can get really tough,” said Doull.
Gets a lot harder with age
Doull said that for a player, things do get tough as you enter the twilight of the career. The commentator said that both Kohli and Rohit haven’t dropped off in the preparations but aren’t getting the rewards they require.
“The later in your career you go, the less success you have or the less success you have as you get older. If you find it very, very tough mentally to get back to that position to put yourself through the hard rigours of the training, the preparation. I don’t think any of these two guys have dropped off as far as that is concerned, but they’re still not quite getting the rewards. They’ve been there, done it in the game. Of course, they can come back and do it again, but it just becomes a lot harder, and that’s what they have to be prepared to go through,” said Doull.
Kohli and Rohit will be key when India travel to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. n
