Irfan Pathan reacts to Virat Kohli’s struggle in ODI series against Australia, hopeful pressure doesn’t affect veteran batter

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes Virat Kohli has struggled to hit the ground running in the first two matches against Australia due to pressure and rustiness. Kohli has come back into action after a long break but has bagged two consecutive ducks in the first two games of the series.

After managing an eight-ball duck at Optus Stadium, Perth, Kohli once again failed to trouble the scorers at Adelaide as he was dismissed for a blob.

Kohli was plumbed in front by Xavier Bartlett for a four-ball duck. The right-arm seamer was able to get the ball back into the right-hander and Kohli could not make any connection.

Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “2 matches, two ducks – we haven’t seen this. It doesn’t happen too often. This can be pressure, rustiness or anything. All these things are going on social media, the atmosphere is being created. We have to be careful that these two players are not being affected by the atmosphere. If performance is not there, they won’t play.”

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma played a crucial knock of 73 runs, which would have given him a lot of confidence.

“But Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have done amazing things. So, it’s important to persist with them if they are struggling. It’s difficult because Yashasvi Jaiswal is on the bench. But if there’s a sword hanging above your head, it’s not easy to play. I hope it doesn’t affect Kohli.”

“He got out in the off-stump in the first match. In the second match, he had it in the back of the mind that three slips were there. He would have been thinking whether the ball will come onto the off-stump. The ball slightly came back and he went to his favourite shot but got beaten. It was a big gap and you don’t see such a big one in Kohli’s flick shot,” Pathan elaborated.

The former left-arm swing bowler added that runs will come for Virat Kohli once he spends time at the crease.

“How can he come out of this? He wants to take a single quickly and get off strike. When there are two ducks against your name, you want a run. But he has to ensure not to get desperate. He shouldn’t enjoy batting in the course of getting desperate. He needs to keep enjoying batting. Once he spends time, runs will come, and he won’t look back. He likes one-day cricket the most.”

The third and final ODI between India and Australia will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.