‘Not going to defend Virat Kohli…’: Dinesh Karthik delivers verdict on VK’s performance during Sri Lanka ODI series

Former India captain and veteran opener Virat Kohli's performance with the bat came under the scanner during the recently concluded ODI series between India and Sri Lanka, where he scored 58 runs in the three matches at an average of 19.56 and a top score of 24. Kohli's performances came under even more scrutiny as Team India failed to win a single match in the series after being whitewashed by the hosts in the T20I leg of the event.

In a video posted on Cricbuzz, Karthik said, “In this series… let's admit. Be it Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or anyone else. With a slightly semi-new ball, between overs 8-30, it's hard work. Nothing to worry about. Not too many pitches work that way, but it's been a tough pitch to play spinners. I'm not going to defend Virat Kohli here, but playing spin here is very hard,”

Karthik also listed out the positives from the ODI series, stating “The biggest positive is the fact that India played all-rounders and bravely attacked. So that is something I really like, that is one. Number two, Riyan Parag, in his limited opportunities, is showing what he can do with the ball, which is again a small plus for us.”

Notably, the new Indian team management under Gautam Gambhir had shown a propensity to favour players with a more 3-dimensional approach like Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel. Meanwhile, for the first time in a long while, India's top-order batsmen like Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma were also seen rolling up their sleeves on the spin-friendly wickets of Sri Lanka.

However, despite fielding a spin-heavy side, India failed to win a single match in the series due to middle-order batting failures. While skipper Rohit Sharma and opener Shubman Gill got off to a steady start in almost all the matches, India's middle-order batsmen failed to sustain the momentum, leading to defeat in the last two ODIs and a draw in the first match.