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Gautam Gambhir Defends Virat Kohli Amid Criticism: ‘I Remember Batting With Him on His Debut’
Gautam Gambhir Defends Virat Kohli Amid Criticism: ‘I Remember Batting With Him on His Debut’
Virat Kohli’s poor performances in the most recent Test series against Bangladesh have drawn criticism. During the Bangladesh series in 2024, Kohli scored 6, 17, 47, and 29* in four innings; however, he has only played three Test matches without scoring fifty or more. Kohli wants to go back to his best before the New Zealand Tests. During a news conference, head coach Gautam Gambhir declared his everlasting support for Kohli and shared a strong forecast regarding his possible comeback.
“I have always had a very clear opinion on Virat: he is a top-tier cricket player who has produced regularly over a long period of time. He still has the same desire for runs as when he first made his debut. That same hunger still exists; I recall starting the batting with him during his debut in Sri Lanka. He is a world-class player because of this hunger, and I have no doubt that he will be motivated to score runs in the series and when he travels to Australia,” Gambhir said.
At an average of 45.57, Kohli has amassed 866 runs from 11 Test matches against New Zealand, including three hundreds and three fifties. In Test cricket, he is getting close to hitting 9,000 runs, becoming the fourth Indian hitter to do so. Two hundred and two fifties have been among Kohli’s 557 runs at an average of 55.70 in six home Test matches against New Zealand. Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Cheteshwar Pujara are the only players who have scored more runs than him against New Zealand.
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Gambhir also highlighted an important cricket trend throughout the meeting. “The bowlers are this age. Matches are set up by batsmen, but we have a 99 percent chance of winning if a bowler takes 20 wickets. Instead of concentrating only on batsmen, I hope the discussion turns to bowlers winning championships,” he said.
