"Cricket is a game of ups and downs": Markram on Kohli's form in ICC T20 WC 2024

Bridgetown [Barbados], June 29 (ANI): Ahead of the much-awaited ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final against India at the Kensington Oval on Saturday, South Africa skipper Aiden Markram shared his thoughts on former India skipper Virat Kohli's poor performance in the ongoing marquee event.

Ahead of the clash between the two unbeaten sides of the tournament, India and South Africa, the Proteas cricketer asserted that the 36-year-old is a great player and cricket is a game of ups and downs.

"I don't think it worries me. He's a great player, as we all know. But they've got their whole batting unit full of great players. And cricket's a game of ups and downs. You're not always going to do well, especially as a batter. So, we just do our planning, do our preparation from a meeting point of view for planning towards those batters and hopefully on the day we can get that right," Markram said in the pre-match press conference.

After enjoying a rich vein of form with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Kohli has been searching for runs from his bat throughout the ongoing edition of the mega event. Kohli appears to have lost his rhythm while opening for the Indian team alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.

Kohli ended IPL 2024 with the Orange Cap, by racking a whopping 741 runs at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69, with a century and five half-centuries.

But in the ongoing T20 World Cup, Kohli's record is in complete contrast with his IPL figures. In seven matches, Kohli, with all his experience, has struggled to put together a string of performances. He has mustered up just 75 runs at an average of 10.71 throughout the tournament.

The stalwart batter momentarily showed a glimpse of returning to his groove after smoking the ball into the stand over mid-wicket off Reece Topley.

But the English pacer had the last laugh after he dislodged the bails off the stumps, with Kohli attempting to shovel the ball towards the boundary.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs. (ANI)