Kohli's recent performances have drawn more criticism
It is high time for India to move on from Virat Kohli and go in search of the next Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly, according to former England captain David Lloyd.
Lloyd pointed out that Kohli, 36, doesn’t have age on his side and needs to accept that he is no longer the player he once was. While saying that Kohli is a generational great, the former England batter felt that it is time to move on.
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Kohli has just 190 runs from nine innings in the Border Gavaskar Trophy and only three hundreds in Tests since 2020. India lost the series for the first time in a decade as Kohli’s penchant for knicking deliveries outside off stump cited as one of the reasons for the debacle.
“Virat Kohli knows he is past his best and that will hurt. When India come to England, you know where he’s going to be. Just outside off stump, and the business area will be the slips. At 36 years of age, up in the mind, he knows what he should be doing. Your reflexes gently go. Ponting said he carried on a bit longer than he usually would have,” Lloyd told talkSport Cricket.
Lloyd felt that it is a necessity for Indian selectors to find players who fill in the role of Kohli who has 9,230 Test runs, including 30 hundreds and 31 fifties.
“The selectors should know. He is one of the greatest players we have seen but is past his best. The coach Gautam Gambhir will have an enormous say, a big say, because he has been in that dressing room. The one thing when you talk about great cricketers, that the rest haven’t, is time. He has lost time. It’s gone. His time’s gone. It comes with age,” he said.
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India have also been a rut in the longest format, having lost 0-3 to New Zealand at home before the series in Australia which cost them a place in the World Test Championship final, the first time since the tournament’s inception.
Lloyd felt that India’s enormous talent pool can help them unearth a cricketer of Tendulkar, Dravid or Ganguly’s calibre. The legendary trio had served Indian cricket for over two decades and have scored a combined total of over 35,000 Test runs.
“If I was involved, I would be stimulated by it. I might just find a new Dravid, a new Tendulkar or a new Ganguly because that’s how they also came into the team,” he said.
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