India’s proud home record has met an inglorious end, leaving the cricket-mad nation grappling with a reality it has long dreaded. Many fans now realize that aging stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma might be approaching the end of their careers.
Kohli and Sharma have been essential to every significant Indian victory over the past 17 years. Their contributions include three World Cup championships, two World Test Championship finals, and a 12-year winning streak in home test series.
After winning the World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year, both players retired from T20 internationals. Their declining performance in Test cricket raises serious concerns before India travels to Australia for a five-Test series.
Fans hope that captain Rohit and batting mainstay Kohli can score runs before India departs for Australia. The third Test match against New Zealand begins on Friday, and the team aims to avoid a rare whitewash.
At his best, opener Rohit was a graceful and free-scoring batsman who led India to their first two series victories in Australia in 2018–19 and 2020–21. However, in his last eight test innings, he has only scored one fifty and six single-digit returns.
In the longest format, Kohli, who is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of the modern era, has only scored two fifties in his last 12 innings and two hundreds in the previous five years.
The right-hander’s average has fallen to 48.31, and he has clearly struggled against left-arm spin, losing both innings of the second test to Mitchell Santner of New Zealand.
Dinesh Karthik, a former teammate of Virat Kohli, informed www.cricbuzz.com that his test record against spin over the past two to three years has not been fantastic.
As if remembering how, in his heyday, he would have sent the delivery racing to the boundary, Kohli appeared devastated after being bowled by Santner’s delectable full toss in the first innings in Pune.
“It’s obviously a recurring pattern where (left-arm) spinners have troubled him, and I think he will go and figure out what he needs to do to come out stronger,” Karthik stated.
“He is a man who is searching for answers.”
However, India’s typically powerful and deep batting has been a huge disappointment in the two tests against New Zealand, so it is not just Rohit and Kohli who have failed.
They struggled to score a dismal 46 in Bengaluru and a meager 146 in Pune. Unable to make significant runs in the first innings, a recovery in either test appeared unlikely.
India leads Australia by a slim margin in the WTC rankings, and a loss in Mumbai would require them to win four of the five test matches played in Australia in order to get to their third straight final.
Whether Rohit, who is a year older, and Kohli, who turns 36 next week, can prolong their test careers may also be decided in the coming months.
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