Indian head coach Rahul Dravid backs Virat Kohli to score a 'match-winning' knock

In recent times, Virat Kohli's form has dropped. He hasn't been getting many runs, and he hasn't scored a century in a long time. He last hit a century against Bangladesh way back in November 2019. The 33-year-old has since scored a few half-centuries but has not been able to convert them to three-digit scores.

Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid has now said that Virat Kohli has been doing all that he needs to do to perform well. He also set aside any concerns about Virat Kohli's age and fitness. "I kind of disagree with you when you say he is in the wrong side of 30. He is probably in my opinion on the right side of 30," he said in response to a question in a press conference ahead of the Test match against England.

"I think he is an incredibly fit guy. He is one of the most hard-working guys I have ever come across. His desire and hunger. His whole attitude in looking after himself, his preparation and even just the way he just played the game at Leicester, batting in those conditions, scoring the kind of 50, 60 that he did," he added.

The former Indian player revealed that Virat is taking on challenges ahead of the match. "He was keen on batting against Bumrah and all of these guys. So, I think he is ticking all the right boxes. He is doing what he needs to do to sort of come out of it," he said.

Addressing Virat's form in recent times, Dravid said that he does not lack motivation and that he has given some match-winning performances.

"As players, you go through these kinds of phases. I don't think you need motivation to be very honest. Don't think in Virat's case it is lack of motivation. You go through phases like this at times. Sometimes you bat well...it's not so much about focussing on those three figures but you know even a 70 on a difficult wicket in Cape Town...when we played at Cape Town, I thought that was a very good innings. It didn't convert into a three figures score but it was a good score," he said.

Dravid believed that the former Indian captain had set a high standard for himself. "Obviously, a guy like him, the kind of standard that he set, the number of hundreds that he scored, people only see a hundred as a success," he said.

"From a coach's perspective, we only want contributions from him, we want match-winning contributions for him, whether that's a 50, that's a 60 on a wicket like that. Maybe tomorrow's wicket, maybe a 60 or a 70 could end up being a match-winning performance or it may not, we might need a big score for him. But yeah, from our perspective, there is not a lot of focus on three figures and whether he gets it," Dravid concluded.