Will Virat Kohli's struggles against spin hurt India in Champions Trophy?

Virat Kohli's struggles against spin has proved to be a worrying trend for India ahead of their Champions Trophy clash against Pakistan. Can the star batter overcome his woes and find the ODI World Cup form?

In Short

• Kohli has been dismissed in his last 6 innings by spinners
• The Indian star has managed just 137 runs in the 6 ODI innings
• Kohli is falling to spin in every 2 ODI innings in comparison to pre-2019

A worrying trend has emerged in India's ODI setup, and it is the form of Virat Kohli. His technique has been found wanting against spinners, and that, in all likelihood, is the root cause behind Kohli's slump. Getting out to a spinner is one thing. But Kohli's inability to come out on top against the spinners is hurting India.

Harbhajan Singh pointed it out and said that it was going to happen when a player tends to take more time to settle into an innings. The former spinner felt that was the case with Kohli at the moment and shows that reputation doesn't matter in the end.

"I think when the form is not there, this is exactly what happens-you tend to take a lot more time, you tend to take more time to settle into an innings. That's exactly what is happening with Virat Kohli. Cricket is a great leveller. It goes on to show that no matter how big you are, your reputation will not count," said Harbhajan.

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The Indian star has managed just 137 runs in the 6 ODI innings he has played after the 2023 World Cup, with a solitary half-century. Strikingly, 5 of the dismissals have come to right-arm leg spin, while the remaining one was against a left-arm spinner.

Is Kohli trying too hard?

Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble feels that Kohli is "trying too hard" and that's making it tougher for him to find form, and he probably needs a leaf out of Rohit Sharma's book.

"I think he's trying a bit too hard. You can see that in the way he is going about his innings. He just needs to not worry about it. Rohit [Sharma] comes in there, has the freedom because there is plenty of batting and all of them are in great form. Similarly for Virat, he just needs to come in and not worry about anything else," said Kumble.

When we compare Kohli's prowess against spin from his ODI debut until 2019, he tackled slow bowlers well on a consistent basis. But in the last 5 years, his weaknesses have come to the fore in a big way. Kohli is falling to spin in every 2 ODI innings in comparison to pre-2019, when he fell to them once every 4 innings.

Just ahead of the Champions Trophy, Kohli's struggles were magnified against leg-spinner Adil Rashid in the England series. He edged deliveries which spun away in both Cuttack and Ahmedabad. Even in India's Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh, Kohli again fell to a leg-spinner, this time it was Rishad Hossain.

There have been many stories of Kohli’s stellar comebacks on previous occasions. What helped him overcome the difficult times was mental toughness, but this time around a prolonged slump has raised major concerns about his ability to bounce back.

Given the high standards he has for himself, Kohli would hope to rectify the spin issue and look to get into the 2023 World Cup mold, where he finished as the tournament's highest run-getter.