'He is in that dark place' - Kevin Pietersen on Virat Kohli's horror run in IPL 2022

Virat Kohli’s horrendous run in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 continues as he bagged his second successive golden duck on Saturday (April 23). In the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the veteran Royal Challengers Bangalore batter edged Marco Jansen’s outgoing delivery to slips and walked back in utter disappointment. In fact, his tally of 119 runs is his lowest after eight games in an IPL season.

As the Delhi-born batter has mustered a plethora of runs in his illustrious career, the entire cricket world is stunned with his regular failures. His last century in professional cricket was recorded way back in November 2019. Giving his take on Kohli’s rough patch, former England captain Kevin Pietersen reckons the Indian batter is in a ‘dark place’ and one can only hope that his lean patch gets over.

The game needs Virat Kohli to score runs: Kevin Pietersen

“I think he is at point and having been at that point in my career on a couple of occasions, it is not nice. It is a very lonely, lonely place especially when you have all eyes on you. Every single thing is Kohli, Kohli and Kohli. He is in that dark place, I just hope it ends quickly because the game needs him to score runs,” Pietersen told Star Sports.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was a part of the same panel, said it’s hard to talk about Kohli’s form as he’s getting out in just first few balls. He, however, reckons the team management needs to have a word with the 33-year-old regarding his performance.

“It is tough to say anything when the man has not even faced a dozen deliveries. If you have faced at least dozen deliveries then you get to see whether the feet are moving, whether the man is playing across the line or there is a technical area where you need to do something,” said Gavaskar.

“The last two dismissals I can put down to the fact that he hadn’t got the runs till then. Looking to get off to an aggressive start, and the ball has been moving so hence he has been dismissed,” he added.

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