His dismissal to Wellalage in India’s Asia Cup<\/a> Super Four clash against Sri Lanka on a dry and bald R Premadasa Stadium pitch was the eighth time he had fallen to left-arm spin in 28 matches since January 2021.
He has scored only 104 runs against that type of bowling having faced 159 balls, 79 of them dots. He averages just 13 against left-arm spin since 2021 and has a strike-rate of 65.4.
After his heroics against Pakistan on the adjacent pitch on Monday which had an even grass covering and was skidding on to the bat, Kohli found the going tough against Sri Lanka on a pitch that was offering grip, uneven bounce, and sharp turn. It seemed like Day Three of a Test in Indore.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWellalage, who led Sri Lanka Under-19 in the World Cup in the West Indies, last March, had sent back Shubman Gill off the first ball he had bowled. He then produced a leading edge off Kohli first ball. Next ball, a flick gave the Indian star two runs. The forward lunge and hard hands, a no no on a pitch that is offering sharp turn though would have got the young Lankan interested.
With extra fielders inside the circle, Kohli found it tough to rotate the strike against Wellalage, who was bowling it flat and quick and was also getting purchase. The fact that he is a reluctant sweeper and doesn’t employ the slog sweep, also plays into the hands of the bowler, when he is on top, as there are few release shots.
With dots piling up, he perished while trying to whip a short of good length delivery past mid-wicket, but with the ball holding up, he hit it in the air to Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka and was out for 3. It was a soft dismissal, but one has seen him get out like that in Paarl to Maharaj, although he was caught on the off-side, and to Shakib in Mirpur.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe cheap dismissal ended Kohli’s golden run of four successive hundreds at the Premadasa. While that won’t worry him much, the fact that sides often employ left-arm spin the moment they see him stride out, even in the IPL, would get him thinking.
India’s next game is against Bangladesh at the Premadasa on Friday and bowlers like Shakib would consider themselves to be in business again when they come up against Kohli. Bear in mind, India play Australia in Chennai in the first match of the World Cup. Chepauk often is a loyal friend of spin. Ask Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar and how they strangled India in March there.<\/p>\n
Kohli has been ahead of the game for much of the time and as he enters the home stretch of a decorated career, may be the challenge of finding a quick solution to reverse the trend of him being troubled by left-arm finger spin, would add another layer to his competitive streak.<\/p>\n
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