'Keep backing him, he is a great player' - Harsha Bhogle analyses Virat Kohli's rough patch in IPL 2022

It has been a tough outing for Virat Kohli so far in the ongoing IPL 2022. After two consecutive golden ducks, the batting megastar was expected to roar back to form against the Rajasthan Royals while chasing a manageable 145. However, that was not to be as he could only manage nine runs to his name opening the innings.

Speaking on Kohli’s rough patch, Harsha Bhogle has said that all the 33-year-old needs to do is stick to the very game that made him a great player in the first place. At the same time, the veteran commentator also went on to say that the Delhi cricketer’s inability to score in the powerplay is indeed a worry.

Virat Kohli became great because he understands the game: Harsha Bhogle

“Could this early moment of luck is what Kohli needed? But, in a short innings, Kohli got inner edges that missed the stumps, so, definitely it is a worry. He is just not able to get away in the Powerplay. I think Faf (du Plessis) was honest about it upfront when he said ‘all players go through this but the greats find a way back’ and we thought rather the best way Kohli just sitting there and waiting for his turn, we thought what was best for him was to come up and open the batting,” Bhogle told Cricbuzz.

“Virat Kohli became great because he understands the game and he is a certain kind of a  player. I have absolutely no idea (referring to the bad phase in his career) other than just tell Virat Kohli to relax and remind him he is a great player and just keep backing him, make him feel good. Keep backing him and hope that at some point the fine tuning happens,” he added.

Kohli has only managed 128 runs from nine matches this season at an average of 16 and a strike rate of 119.63 with his highest score being 48. Coming back to the last match, RCB were eventually restricted to just 115 to suffer a 29-run loss following a batting collapse.