Days after losing to Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2023 semifinals, Royal Challengers Bangalore's ace batsman Virat Kohli started preparing for the ICC World Test Championship final in England.In the summit match, which will start on June 7 at The Oval, the Indian cricket team will face Australia.
While RCB may have lost in the T20 league stage, Kohli had a successful season on his own. He struck back-to-back hundreds to conclude the year with an excellent total of 639 runs from 14 games.
His outstanding performance across formats continued during the Asia Cup last year, when he finally broke his century drought by scoring his first century in T20Is.
Given the hurdles they will face in 2023, his return to form is encouraging for India, who will be anxious to end their wait for their first ICC championship since winning the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Since then, India has advanced to the ICC finals on several times without taking home the trophy; the most recent of them being the WTC final in 2021, when they were defeated by New Zealand.
Kohli has high expectations of himself, but the downturn, according to former India top selector MSK Prasad, revealed that he is just human after all.
“His 2021–22 wasn't all that fantastic. But that's because we have high expectations for him. He has extremely high expectations for himself. Every match must result in hundreds of points for him; else, it is a failure. He is, however, still a person, Prasad told ANI.
He struggled for a time under the leadership strain, but once he found his rhythm and clarity, he did not turn around. Since the Asia Cup last year, he has been in incredible form and has scored hundreds in all forms, the speaker said.
In 2011 and 2013, when India won the Champions Trophy, Kohli was a member of the team that won the world cup. They have since earned a spot in a World T20 final. CT final and WTC final, but lost to the winner on each occasion.
In the WTC final, Prasad predicts that Kohli will score significantly.
He (Kohli) must be motivated to give his all to help India win since the country hasn't won an ICC event in years. I am certain he will do well in the WTC final given his current form, positive mental attitude, and seniority of over 100 Tests, Prasad added.
