Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has come out in support of Virat Kohli as he has been in a slump for almost 3 years, posting a picture of Virat on his official Instagram page. “It’s the darkest hour before the dawn” titled that.
Kohli has not scored a century since November 2019 and his long wait for a 71st international century is still on. The current England tour has turned out to be a memorable one for Kohli. The 33-year-old was ruled out of the first one-day international due to a knee strain. India won the match by 10 wickets and took a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.
Kohli, who was once number one, has lost his place in the top 10 rankings for both Tests and ODIs. However, he retained the third spot in the ICC ODI rankings, overtaking Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
The second ODI will be played today (July 14) at Lord’s, the ‘home of cricket’. And the Men in Blue will be hoping to win the series and clinch the ODI series.
If the Rohit Sharma-led team comes out on top in this match, it will be their first ODI series win on English soil since 2014. It is noteworthy that despite winning the opening game of the series in 2018, they lost 1-2.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Bumrah and Kohli may be rested from the squad for the Asia Cup 2022 scheduled to begin on August 27 and the upcoming T20I series against the West Indies starting on July 22.