Take a break, Virat Kohli

Time away from the game, away from constant scrutiny, time with his family could just be what the doctor ordered leading into the T20 World Cup in Australia

It was a smile of acceptance, resignation, frustration, almost surrender, if you like. It stemmed from the realisation that when things aren't meant to go your way, they don't – no matter how hard you try.

Virat Kohli faces the gravest, most demanding challenge of a storied career that has hit an extended trough with a deafening thud. The man who couldn't put a foot wrong until a little while back is now wondering where and how his next big score is going to come from. His perplexed bemusement, therefore, on being dismissed first-ball at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday night wasn't hard to understand.

For only the fourth time in an IPL career stretching back to 2008, the former India captain fell for a golden duck. It wasn't the bowler or the ball that got him out, truth to tell; Kohli was responsible for his own dismissal, wafting half-heartedly, distantly, at a delivery from Dushmantha Chameera he could so easily have left well alone and putting Deepak Hooda at a point in business.

Even in isolation, it didn't make for edifying viewing. The best all-format batsman in the business for so long until he ceased to be is an avowed believer in putting bat to ball early in his innings, but even given that propensity, this was a poor stroke, all hands and no feet, all optimism and no conviction. When one takes into account the fact that the runs have started to dry up over the last two and a half years, that he has gone without a century at any level in any format for a hundred innings, and that even the runs he does conjure from time to time don't come with the same authority or dominance of the past, it's clear what Kohli grapples is more mental than technical.

In the immediacy of his fifth failure for Royal Challengers Bangalore in seven innings – apart from two knocks in the 40s, his scores read 12, 5, 1, 12, and now 0 – Ravi Shastri suggested that the man with whom he forged such successful management combine with the national team was 'overcooked' and therefore desperately in need of a break. The former India head coach clearly knows what he's talking about. Kohli has been a near-constant in stifling bio-bubbles for two years now, and no matter how mentally strong one might appear to be, the constraints of operating in such unforgiving environs are bound to take their toll sooner rather than later.

"Whether it's two months or a month-and-a-half, whether it's after England or before England, he needs a break because he has got 6-7 years of cricket left in him, and you don't want to lose that with a fried brain," Shastri told Star Sports, the official broadcaster.

The jury might be out on the '6-7 years of cricket left in him' remark. After all, Kohli has been on the international circuit for nearly 14 years; he is 33 and perhaps feeling the pinch of high-intensity, all-out cricket all the time now more than ever before. The aura that accompanied him every time he purposefully strode towards the wicket, shadow-practising defensive pushes and punch drives, has dissipated if not disappeared. Despite the potential for immense damage he continues to possess, his is no longer the overwhelmingly coveted scalp oppositions long for.

Yet, it's hard to believe that Kohli is a spent force. He has too much pride to continue to linger if he is convinced he will not be able to rediscover the glory days. He hasn't been in this position before – let's set aside the fact that, in 2014, he only averaged 13.4 in 10 Test innings in England because that was a one-off, it was eight years back, and he knew his best was ahead of him – and is just about coming to terms with the reality of no longer being the captain of the national side in even one format, just six months after being the undisputed leader in all three variants.

In as much as one can't score runs or rediscover form from the outer, there is huge merit in Shastri's suggestion that Kohli takes a break from competitive cricket. Whether that means missing matches for his franchise of which he is no longer the skipper, or for his country, is a personal choice, though if he does play in the IPL and seeks a break from international cricket, the pontificators will rake up the 'club/franchise vs country' debate.

Rohit Sharma, Kohli's successor as all-format India captain and himself going through a horror run, and head coach Rahul Dravid, will be desperate for the batting lynchpin to turn the clock back because, for all the profusion of batting riches at their disposal, a Kohli firing on all cylinders has no parallel. Time away from the game, away from the harsh arc-lights that were once his ally but now loom as accusatory accessories, and away from constant scrutiny, time with his family and time destressing and recharging could just be what the doctor ordered leading into the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November.

This is a test of character of the kind Kohli has seldom encountered. He has the aptitude to come through this with flying colours; whether he still has the attitude to do so will determine what the future holds.

(R Kaushik is a Bengaluru-based senior sports journalist.)

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