India vs England: Virat Kohli will be hungrier and more dangerous after lean patch, Gautam Gambhir backs Indian skipper

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has backed Virat Kohli, who has been registered three ducks in his last five international innings, saying the Indian skipper is going through such a phase "probably for the first time in his career" after scoring more than 20,000 runs.

Gambhir is confident that Kohli will evolve out of his lean patch hungrier and more dangerous as it is just a matter of time that the batsman revives his form.

"These things happen in cricket. Everyone goes through these kinds of phases and he has gone through such a phase probably for the first time in his career after scoring more than 20,000 runs. And probably, he just got to watch the ball and react to it.

You will get low scores, no doubt about it when you play so much international cricket. You can't keep scoring runs every innings, every time.

You go through these kinds of phases and he is going through it. It will only make him even hungrier. And he will start valuing his wickets more, once he gets in, he is going to be even more dangerous because when he gets in, he will try to make up for those failures and make a big one. Once you go through these kinds of phases, as a world-class batter, it only makes you more hungry and probably more determined," Gambhir told Star Sports on Sunday.

Kohli has not scored an international century since November 2019 but he had looked in fine form in Australia, hitting important fifties in the T20I series. In the first Test he played Down Under, he had scored 74 at the Adelaide Oval. In the recently concluded four-match Test series against England, the Indian captain only managed 172 runs at a below-par average of 28.67. After scoring a duck in the final Test, Kohli went on to get dismissed for naught even in the first T20I against England.

But the Indian skipper has said that he is not concerned about his form as these ups and downs are a part of international cricket.

"Well, it's part of the whole journey of international cricket. When you play that long, you will have ups" and downs and you have to accept that as a batsman. On your day, you will end up scoring much more. But sometimes it doesn't come off. You have to keep staying true to your intent and understand and accept that the bowling team will come up with better plans than your plans. For me, it's always about staying as positive as I can," Kohli said in an interview earlier.