Virat Kohli's struggles against spin: How spin is affecting Virat Kohli's batting performance?

Star India batter Virat Kohli could be potentially termed as the most complete batter in modern white-ball cricket. The statement could be backed by his average in T20Is and ODIs which stands at 48.69 and 58.18 respectively. Though the star batter has retired from the T20Is, ODIs remain his forever abode being the first to notch up 50 centuries in the format. 

Over the years, one glaring aspect in his batting has caught everyone’s attention as the white-ball maverick has fallen prey to wrist spin more often than not. The chink in his armour was palpable since 2021 and the batter is known to work on shortcomings and convert them into strengths, but the issue with wrist spinners has prolonged. 

“He has been struggling against spin specially and I think one thing he can do personally as well is to try and be a little more aggressive, because I think the strike rate against spin has come down as well," Irfan Pathan had said.

In T20Is, Kohli has played 38 innings since 2021 and has remained unbeaten 10 times by getting dismissed by wrist spinners five times. In 40 ODI innings, the right-handed batter has remained not out five times and has succumbed to wrist spinners five times.

In ODIs, he played three innings in 2021, getting dismissed two times to spin with a dot ball percentage of 34.8% and a strike rate of 92.1. In 2022, he played six innings with five dismissals with a dot ball percentage of 44.6% and a strike rate of 79.6. During the World Cup year 2023, he played 19 innings, getting dismissed six times with a strike rate of 85.9 and dot ball percentage of 39.7

Virat Kohli losing the plot against spin in ODIs-

Kohli vs Adil Rashid

During the second ODI against England in 2021 at MCA in Pune, Kohli scored 40 runs against spin combining the spells of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali as Ben Stokes kept the spinners going at the Delhi batter. He consumed 46 balls against the spin duo to register a strike rate below 100 against them. He eventually fell to Rashid, scoring 66 off 79 balls.

Also Check: List of Virat Kohli international & IPL centuries

Overall, he has got rid of Kohli nine times across formats, three in ODIs, twice in T20Is and four times in Tests, positioning him just one rank below the bowler with the most dismissals against him in international cricket.

Kohli vs Tabraiz Shamsi

Kohli played a similar sort of innings when India toured South Africa in 2022 with the first ODI played on January 19. Coming into bat at number three, he scored 41 runs against the spin trio of Aiden Markram, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj, consuming 53 deliveries. He was eventually plucked out by Shamsi scoring 51 off 63 balls. 

Fast forward to recent games, as India toured Sri Lanka for the three-match ODI series, with all games scheduled to be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, stakes were not that high for Virat Kohli after winning the T20 World Cup 2024. 

The stats mentioned above seem negligible for a layperson, but in the first two ODIs during India's tour of Sri Lanka in August 2024, Kohli was dismissed LBW by two wrist spinners, Wanindu Hasaranga and Jeffrey Vandersay, for 24 off 32 and 14 off 19 respectively. 

The struggle continued in the third ODI as well

Kohli took on Asitha Fernando, scoring a flurry of boundaries against the pacer. He downgraded his gear as spinner Dunith Wellalage was introduced. He faced six balls of Wellalage and scored just four runs and fell LBW to him on the sixth ball, making it three LBWs to spin in the three-match ODI series.

"A great batsman like Virat Kohli, the world's number one batsman, has been out LBW twice. It's understandable if it happens to Iyer or Dube, but Virat Kohli is Virat Kohli. This means that he is not in practice," former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali said on his YouTube Channel.

Kohli tackling spin in IPL 

The struggle is not restricted to just international cricket, the 37-year-old, since IPL 2021 has faced 104 barrages from wrist spinners comprised of googlies and doosras and scored 116 runs. Talking about left-arm spinners, he has scored 77 runs in 64 deliveries at underwhelming strike rates of 111.5 and 120.3 respectively.

With the Champions Trophy 2025 sword swinging above the head and some spin-friendly pitches at bay, the batter needs to get back to his 2016 era and produce some strikes from his conventional cricket book dominated by the bottom hand and half-arced bat swing sweeping the turner off the strip.

Kohli's newfound approach as he builds his innings 

Amidst all the fervor, one could witness a change in Virat’s approach over the years. Low risk, high intensity, and anchoring the innings not only during chases, but also during setting targets. The same was evident in his innings which saw him score 76 off 59 balls in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024. In the 22 balls he faced against spin, he scored 22 runs and targeted pacers in the death overs. The same talk of strike rate caught fire since IPL 2024 and Virat had this to say: 

“All the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well are the ones who love talking about this stuff. But for me, it's just about winning the game for the team. And there's a reason why you do it for 15 years - because you've done this day in [and] day out; you've won games for your teams,” said Kohli after an RCB game.