Whenever and wherever team India play, Virat Kohli always grabs the headlines. For right reasons though - he scores runs, leads from the front and ensures team plays out of their skin and win.
You did bet all your money on Kohli to score runs, every game. And on most occasions, you did be a rich by the end of day. But since the turn of the year, something has changed. A lot, in fact. Kohli looks tentative with the bat and hasn't scored a century in 21 innings.?
His form has compounded more misery for Indian team that relies heavily on their skipper. How Kohli performs directly reflects on how India fare. At the moment, both are short on confidence and devoid of ideas.?
India started their New Zealand tour in an emphatic fashion, whitewashing the hosts 5-0 in the T20I series. A start like that on a difficult tour was seen as a testament to India's elite mentality to win regardless of the conditions and venue.?
It has fast gone downhill for India. They suffered a 3-0 whitewash in the ODI leg and lost the first Test after failing to put any fight of sorts. The performance in the first Test was more shocking. Coming into the series on the back of seven consecutive wins in the ICC Test Championship, the number one ranked team, India, looked a sub-standard unit that didn't have answers.
The match finished in under three days as the likes of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Kyle Jamieson wreaked havoc over the Indian batsmen. It was only Mayank Agarwal, who could apply himself better in seaming conditions in the first test than the other batters.?
Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara could not put a dent on the scoreboard in Wellington. The top-order struggled and there was less than impressive showing from the lower-order. Rishabh Pant is continuing to disappoint and looks far from convincing.?
The application, grit and perseverance was missing as Indian batting flopped big time. Not learning their lessons, it happened again in the first innings of the second Test. India were dismissed for 242, although Prithvi Shaw scored a quick fire fifty, Mayank Agarwal, Kohli and Rahane failed to produce anything of note.
The problems are only mounting for India. Their strongest suit is batting and that is where they are struggling. They have found it hard to survive in the seaming conditions and the old problems of not handling the bounce are resurfacing.?
Kohli and co. are looking down the barrel and need to find solutions rather quickly.?