Spin and pace variable, but the struggle remains constant for Virat Kohli

An easy draw, one might say, was handed to India as they played Bangladesh to open their ICC Champions Trophy campaign in Bangladesh. The game fared as per anticipation as India registered a 6-wicket win over their neighbors. If not for the gritty heroics of Towhid Hridoy in the opening innings, Bangladesh, reduced to 35 for 5 at one point, would have been forced out of the clash even sooner. A commanding victory to start an ICC event would look good enough for a team. And yet, there remains a looming concern within the combination as India prepares to face Pakistan next. Virat Kohli, or, to say, his bad form, remains adamant in place as the team looks to add another accolade to their ICC trophy department.

Virat Kohli remains a concern in India's ICC Champions Trophy campaign

Despite the tenacious knocks of Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali for Bangladesh, India needed to chase just 229 to win their campaign opener. The skipper and the vice-captain of the side, meanwhile, appeared headstrong in their plans to dominate the powerplay. Rohit Sharma brought his form from Cuttack to Dubai as he seamlessly cruised through the powerplay with boundaries. Giving an ideal start to the chase, Sharma, however, departed without a milestone as he was dismissed in the 10th over at 41 off 36. Shubman Gill, who hit a pull shot so sublime that Rohit Sharma smirked at the perfection, slowed down his game after Rohit's departure.

As the powerplay ended, the chase took a turn in pace as Virat Kohli and Gill waded through the game. Virat Kohli, unlike Gill, however, looked troubled in his stance, a sign that his struggle with bad form had still not ended. As Kohli looked to open up, he found himself stuck at scores like 9 off 21 and 17 off 33, unable to hit against the spinners. Kohli's struggle against spinners, unfortunately, is not a new occurrence now. While pacers trouble him in the longer format, as witnessed most recently during the Border Gavaskar Trophy, spin has caused Kohli's average in the 50-over format to crumble.

Virat Kohli has lost his wicket to a spinner six times in the last seven ODI innings he has played. Moreover, in these seven innings, played since the 2023 World Cup, Kohli has managed to score just 137 runs at an average of 22.83. While almost every Indian batter struggled against spinners on the Sri Lanka tour, Kohli's struggle against spin became pronounced during the England series. The batter, who managed to notch a fifty in the series, gave his wicket to Adil Rashid in both matches that he played. The English player has now dismissed the Indian modern-day legend a record 11 times.

If not for Shubman Gill and his century knock, the Indian batting lineup would have been considerably troubled by Bangladesh. The ICC Champions Trophy is a short tournament, with every single match demanding top-notch efforts with little to no margin for error. Virat Kohli, an elemental top-order fix in the Indian lineup, needs to show up with India's next fixtures against Pakistan and New Zealand. Though Pakistan is coming off a heavy defeat against New Zealand and their campaign is hanging by a thread, Abrar Ahmed could trouble Kohli. If not, then the lineup has promised the much-hyped Virat Kohli vs. Haris Rauf match-up. Moreover, India vs. New Zealand would be the real test, with the Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner in enviable form.

Meanwhile, Indian cricket experts have gauged the problem with Kohli's current form. No one can deny the ability that the batter holds. His stats and records are all a testament to the quality of Kohli's batting. However, former Indian cricketer and coach Anil Kumble is of the stance that Kohli has been putting a lot of pressure on himself. This pressure is what's keeping him from finding his rhythm again.

"I feel he's trying a bit too hard. When you have that kind of pressure and you have that kind of expectation, you suddenly start putting undue importance on all of that and then try hard to do well," Kumble said.

"To start off against spin, on surfaces like that, you need a lot of confidence. He's certainly trying too hard to manoeuvre that. He's a good player of spin when he's in form when he's wanting to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike. Now he's trying too hard to score runs rather than just manoeuvre, and that's been his game plan," he added.