The two former opening batters of the game, Parthiv Patel and Tamim Iqbal, have pointed out how much pressure the former Indian captain, Virat Kohli, finds himself in playing for the Indian cricket team, in a comparison with his counterparts Joe Root, Kane Williamson or Steve Smith, who may not go through the same.
When Virat Kohli went through that dry time from the start of the covid to the Asia Cup 2022, where he failed to score a century across formats for nearly two years, so much was talked about and written about the former Indian batter and that showed the Everest high pressure on the Indian batter.
The Delhi-born is in a contest with the other three members to be the leading run-getter in the Fab Four. There is no such contest among these players in the 50-over format of the game, where Kohli is miles ahead of them in the contest.
“The pressure of expectation on Virat Kohli is huge”- Parthiv Patel
In the case of the ODI format of the game, Virat Kohli is the third highest run-getter in the world, with 13906 runs in 295 games at an average of nearly 60 with a strike rate of over 90, with the help of 50 centuries and 72 half-centuries with the best score of 183 runs. In the list, Williamson is the next among the four but, that’s number 50 in the list.
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The 35-year-old is a little down in the longest format of the game, having collected 8871 runs in 115 games at an average of 48.74 with a strike rate of around 50, shouldering on 29 centuries and 30 half-centuries. Root is the leader of the four with 12402 runs at an average of 50.62 thanks to his 34 centuries and 64 half-centuries and sits at the sixth position in the table.
Virat Kohli struggled in the opening of the two-match series against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and finds himself under the scanner heading into the second encounter of the series at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.
“I don’t think he’s feeling that kind of pressure. And as you rightly mentioned, I don’t think Smith or Joe Root or Williamson can even think of the type of pressure he must be feeling. The pressure of expectation is huge.” The former wicket-keeper noted as quoted by ‘India Today.’
Parthiv Patel claimed that the pressure that the veteran finds himself is nothing to what Smith, Williamson, or Smith go through in their country regarding the game. There have been questions raised against the approach of Kohli.
“He (Virat Kohli) has set his standard so high that even if he scores 60 or 70, that comes across as a failure. Because every time he walks in, we expect him to score 100. We expect him to play with that kind of intensity, which he has always been playing,”
Kohli’s last Test ton came in the Caribbean in July 2023. The former Bangladesh opener, Tamim Iqbal, addressed that the right-hander’s ODI record is unparalleled, and the other three are nowhere close.
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“And also, I think yes in Test match cricket, the Fab 4 that we are talking about have done wonders. Because in Test match cricket, basically as a batter, you can’t win a game single-handedly. There are two innings and everything.” The left-handed batter opined.
“But we also call them Fab 4 in white-ball cricket, and hands down, in what Virat Kohli has done for India, amount of games that he has won single-handedly, I’m pretty sure none of the other three has won that many of the games. And as you mentioned because of the amount of pressure that he goes through; I think those three combined do not have the similar pressure.” The commentator concluded.
