Rahul Dravid reveals how he handled Virat Kohli during his lean patch
India head coach Rahul Dravid has revealed how he helped Virat Kohli in his lean patch over the last couple of years.
Dravid, who was on a break following the T20 World Cup 2022, joined the Indian team for the Bangladesh tour. One of his biggest targets in the coming months is the Cricket World Cup, which is scheduled to take place next year in India.
Kohli, who suffered from a poor run for over two years, starting from the end of 2019, revived his form under Dravid. Kohli is certainly going to be key for India ahead of the World Cup 2023, especially since India have not won an ICC trophy after their 2013 Champions Trophy success.
The former India captain found his form in the Asia Cup, earlier this year when he recorded his maiden T20I century. He carried that momentum into the T20 World Cup, which took place in October-November in Australia. Even though India were eliminated after a semi-final loss to England, Kohli finished the tournament as India's best batsman/
He scored an iconic 82 not out against Pakistan, an innings that will go down as one of the best T20 knocks played by him in his career. Dravid, who has been India's head coach since late 2021, said that as a coach it is always tough to watch when a player at the stature of Kohli is going through a rough patch of form.
"It was not easy for him since the standards that he has set for himself," Dravid said in a recent interview.
However, the head coach also stated that it has been fantastic to watch Kohli train and prepare for his game.
"It has been fantastic to watch Virat Kohli train and prepare over the last one and a half years," Dravid further added.
In the same interview, when Dravid was asked about how he dealt with Kohli's form as a coach, the former Indian batter said that it was important to realise that Kohli had not batted poorly at the time when half-centuries and centuries were not coming.
"As coaches, it is our job to look beyond those numbers and see that he had batted really well in that period of time," added Dravid.
In the Bangladesh series, Kohli scored a century in the final ODI of the three-match series, putting up his 72nd career hundred. In the ongoing first Test, Kohli managed to score just one run after India opted to bat.