Days after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s IPL 2023 campaign ended with a defeat to Gujarat Titans, their star batter Virat Kohli began his preparations for the final of the ICC World Test Championship in England. The Indian cricket team will take on Australia in the summit clash scheduled to get underway from June 7 at The Oval.
While RCB may have exited in the league stage of the T20 competition, individually it was a happy campaign for Kohli who scored back-to-back centuries to finish his season with an impressive tally of 639 runs from 14 matches.
The performance was extension of his impressive show across formats that began at the Asia Cup last year when he ended his century drought, across formats, with a maiden hundred in T20Is.
His return to form is a good sign for India considering the challenges that await them in 2023 and as a team they will be eager to end their wait for a first ICC title since 2013 when they won the Champions Trophy.
Since then, India have made it to the final of ICC events on multiple occasions without having won the title – the most recent being the WTC final in 2021 when they lost to New Zealand.
Former India chief of selector MSK Prasad says Kohli has set high standards for himself but the slump showed he’s human after all.
“He did not have a very great 2021-22. But that is because we expect a lot from him. He has set a very high standard for himself. He has to score hundreds in every match, otherwise, it is a failure. But he is a human after all,” Prasad told ANI.
“The captaincy pressure had him struggling for a while, but once he regained his rhythm and clarity, he did not look back. He has been in amazing form since last year’s Asia Cup, and has made centuries in all formats,” he added.
Kohli was part of India’s world cup winning squad in 2011 and in 2013 when they won the Champions Trophy. Since then, they have qualified for a World T20 final. CT final and WTC final but finished runners-up on all three occasions.
Prasad feels Kohli will scored big in the WTC final.
“He (Kohli) must be having in his mind that India has not won an ICC tournament for years and must be fired up to give his best to help India win. With his form, state of mind in a good place and his seniority being above 100 Tests, I am sure he will deliver in the WTC final,” Prasad said.
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