Indian captain Virat Kohli has not been in the best of the forms in the recent past. Kohli, who has scored 70 international centuries, has been on a hundred drought for over the last 21 months. During this phase, Joe root has peeled off 5 centuries – all these tons have come in the last 7 months. Not only Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara too have not been at their best. If we take a look at this Indian batting order, only openers in KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma and then Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja have been scoring runs.
Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have looked jaded and out of sorts. The trio have scored 1055 runs in Tests this year which is 222 runs less than what Joe Root has managed to score individually.
Root leads the run-scoring charts this year. In the 10 Tests, the England captain has scored 1277 runs at an average of 67.21. This includes a total of 5 Test centuries and a double ton he hit against India in Chennai. As things stand right now, the biggest challenge for this Indian team is getting the wicket of Joe Root.
If we now speak about Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, the story is anything but calming. Pujara and Rahane have played 9 Tests each while Kohli has played 7 Test matches this year.
Across the nine Tests, Pujara has scored 434 runs at an average of 28.93. Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli have not even touched the 400 mark. While Rahane has only managed 330 runs at an average of 22.00, Kohli has struggled with 291 runs at an average of 26.45.
The Indian batting looks dependent on Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant. While Rohit is fourth on the list of the leading run-getters this year with 690 runs in 9 Test matches, Rishabh Pant has scored 644 runs in 9 matches this year.
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