Dismissals one after another poking outside the off-stump have not just drastically reduced Virat Kohli’s Test average to below 50 (46.85 at present), but has also hurt India’s prospects lately. Particularly, in the longest format.
Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga thinks Kohli will benefit if he discusses his problem with some batting stalwarts from the past.
“I think what Kohli needs to do is speak to people like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar or a Rahul Dravid. That’s what he can do. They can certainly help him out,” the 1996 World Cup-winning captain of Sri Lanka, who was in the city as a speaker at the Sister Nivedita University presents and Jac Olivol co-presents Calcutta Club The Telegraph National Debate 2025 on Saturday, said during a short interaction with The Telegraph later.
Arjuna Ranatunga at The Telegraph debate.
Ranatunga, though, scoffed at too much talk and speculation on Kohli’s future. “For a player like Kohli who has scored so much of runs, I feel it’s best if that’s left to him. It’s a call that Kohli needs to take, so let him take it. Why always have the spotlight on him? It’s quite unnecessary I feel. It’s his decision, so let him take that,” Ranatunga, who represented Sri Lanka in 93 Tests and 269 ODIs, said.
He’s also optimistic about both Kohli and India skipper Rohit Sharma being amongst runs in the upcoming Champions Trophy. “Given their stature and the kind of batsmen they have been, I feel it’s a matter of one good innings to regain their rhythm. Let’s see,” Ranatunga stated.
Just as he had said during Saturday’s debate, Ranatunga iterated that his World Cup-winning Sri Lankan team of 1996 would have blown away the current Indian Test side even on Indian soil. “With bowlers like (Chaminda) Vaas and Murali (Muttiah Muralidaran), that team of mine would have beaten India in India in three days,” he remarked.
SLC to blame
Sri Lanka, after Sanath Jayasuriya’s arrival in their coaching staff last July, had beaten India at home in a bilateral series for the first time in 27 years. But thereafter, inconsistency hit the Islanders once again. Despite such reversals, Ranatunga still has faith in the current Sri Lankan side’s talent, putting most of the blame on the country’s cricket Board — Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
“There is no dearth of talent even in this current Sri Lankan team. Overall, it’s a pretty talented lot. Looking back at the 1996 team, only Aravinda (De Silva) was a few notches above the present team players.
The actual problem lies within the SLC. The management of the Board is corrupt, which is the root cause of all problems.
“Even representatives of the current government (sports minister Sunil Kumar Gamage in particular) have said on these lines. Look, if the parents of a child are corrupt, there’s every possibility then of the child suffering.”
