Virat Kohli - Not the chaser he used to be

Kohli’s numbers have gone down

Virat Kohli might have now become the Test captain of the Indian national cricket team and might soon become the captain in the limited overs format as well. But let us not first forget what he became famous for. What made him seal his spot in the team?

Chasing! Irrespective of what the target is, the fans always had a sense of assurance when Virat was out there at the crease. Unfortunately, he seems to have lost that touch. His fall in scoring tons of runs might have been expected, but his slump in scoring while chasing definitely raises concerns.

Kohli's performance in stages

	2008 – 2009		2010 - 2014		In 2015
	Batting First	Chasing	Batting First	Chasing	Batting First	Chasing
No.of Innings	6	6	9(2010) 17(2011) 6(2012) 14(2013) 8(2014)	14(2010) 17(2011) 11(2012) 16(2013) 12(2014)	9	6
Runs Scored	174	310	279(2010) 681(2011) 398(2012) 443(2013) 332(2014)	716(2010) 700(2011) 628(2012) 825(2013) 722(2014)	228	150
Hundreds	0	1	1(2010) 2(2011) 2(2012) 1(2013) 1(2014)	2(2010) 2(2011) 3(2012) 3(2013) 3(2014)	1	0
Man of the match awards	0	1	5	14	1	0

It is very clear that even until 2014, Virat was the king in chasing. He has surpassed MS Dhoni as the most successful chaser for India. In fact, his average is higher while chasing than while batting first. He took thirteen innings to get to his first hundred. After that, there was no looking back.

Until 2014, he scored a century every 6.4 innings and while chasing, he scored a century for every 5.75 innings. That is incredible. Out of the 21 Man of the Match awards he received, 15 of them came because of his chasing skills. And out of the 22 centuries he scored, 14 of them that is 64% of his centuries were scored in the second innings.

In 2015 however, Kohli has batted in 15 innings so far and 6 of them while chasing. Statistically speaking, he should have scored a century chasing and also one more. But he has only one century which was last scored against Pakistan in the World Cup. Though his temporary slump in form while chasing might be ignored, the fact that he could not even score a half century cannot be written off. That does not mean he has failed. His average while chasing is still a healthy 37.5

There is nothing to worry about this very slight dip in form. That should be normal for any player at this stage. But for the first time in his career, the number of runs Kohli has scored in the first innings is greater than the number of runs he scored in the second innings (by more than 150%).

Looks like the tables have turned! Well, we all know that Virat has grown into a fine player over the years. Probably now he is concentrating on being an all round batsmen and doesn’t want to be tagged only as a chasing specialist. It could also be a case of judging everything too early. India’s next ODI assignment is against South Africa in October and that will perhaps give us an indication.