Why Virat Kohli Struggled in BGT 2024-25

Virat Kohli, the beloved “King” of Indian cricket, has struggled in test cricket for a while. His game against spin and pace has taken a hit, and his averages have dipped.

His problem, as we all know, is ‘flirting.’ Unlike Gen-Z, he flirts with off-stump deliveries, leading to his downfall. Is it a technical issue or a mental block?

Virat Kohli’s Numbers Since 2020

Since 2020, test cricket has been a struggle for Virat. His overall average has dipped, with his yearly average crossing 30 only once in the last five years.

If we have a look at his numbers separately, both against spin and pace, his game has diminished over the years.

Especially since 2020, Kohli’s average against pace has been a miserly < 30 four times.

To understand if this change is due to a technical reason, it only makes sense to go back and have a look at Kohli’s batting technique from back in the day.

Virat Kohli in his first tour to England & South Africa

Back in 2013, when Virat went to South Africa, he had great success there scoring a hundred and a fifty. His good run continued in the next couple of months in New Zealand as well.

Then came the infamous England series in 2014, where he scored a mere 134 runs across 10 innings, with Jimmy Anderson exposing his weakness,  getting him dismissed bowling in the corridor of uncertainity.

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The English pacers targeted the corridor to Kohli and he poked at deliveries which he could have left and got out many times.

We also have a Youtube video on this topic so check it out!

Virat Kohli at his Peak

Cut to 2018. Virat Kohli is at the peak of his powers. He is the captain of the side too. He goes to South Africa and has a stellar series with that stellar 153 at Centurion.

Again he goes to England in the same year. However, this time it’s a different story. He scores nearly 600 runs and most importantly does not get out to Jimmy Anderson in the entire tour.

There were certain changes he did to his technique. In the SA series prior, where again swing wasn’t the problem to negate with, and pace and seam were the ones, he handled the situation pretty well.

He did not cover his stumps completely but looked very comfortable playing his shots both in front and behind the wicket.

With his back and across trigger movement, he almost committed to the front foot and gauged the bounce pretty easily.

In England, unlike in 2014, his bat was a lot closer to his body and above his stumps.
The biggest change in his movement was, in his usual back and across movement, he moved well across his off-stump, nearly showing off his leg-stump.

This made him very well aware of where his off-stump was and he was able to leave balls at will, as he was able to spot whether the balls were within his range or not.
His head position and eyes were perfectly straight and aligned. He left more balls and capitalized on the loose balls, either driving or flicking the fuller deliveries.

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What has been the problem lately?

In his next tour to England in 2021, statistically he had a poor tour, scoring only 249 runs across 9 innings, averaging a mere 27.7.

Interestingly, the way he sets himself up, his head position and his initial movements were much better than 2018. This was a case of Virat fighting more with his mind rather than on the field.

Since 2020, Virat has been dismissed caught behind a lot more often than before. Until 2020, only 34% of his dismissals were caught behind and since then this number has gone to 38%.
In the same time difference, his average against pace has also gone down from 42 to 24.3.

In the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy, he has changed his trigger movement again. However, he now has a three point contact, while playing the ball. Like in the pictures below, his front foot touches the ground first and in the second picture, the second time and in the third picture the third time.

He doesn’t want to have a premeditated initial forward press and is looking to play the ball on its merit, but in the end he doesn’t. He also tends to charge at the bowler, like he did in the first innings of the Perth Test.

This just indicates that perhaps he is a tad late to react to the ball and raises questions whether his age is catching up with him, resulting in late reflexes.

Can Virat Kohli flip it around?

Virat Kohli needs to be patient by leaving balls bowled in the corridor and wait for the bowlers to make a mistake, like he did in the second innings at Perth.

Bowlers have exploited this weakness and are constantly putting him under pressure by bowling in the corridor. He might play a game or two in Ranji/County, to probably bring back the rhythm in the red-ball format.

He needs to bring the discipline which he showcased throughout his career, especially in the 2018 series and also leave balls, which should be left and then take on the loose deliveries, to reap rewards, rather than looking to attack/charge at the bowler, which isn’t his natural game.