Star batter Virat Kohli’s string of low scores would be a concern for India when they square off against Canada in their final group match of the T20 World Cup on Saturday, hoping that the sky remains clear in this city even as several parts of Florida are ravaged by torrential rain.
With three consecutive wins, India are through to the Super Eight stage, which will be held entirely in the West Indies.
Kohli came into the T20 World Cup after setting the IPL ablaze, scoring upwards of 700 runs at a strike-rate of over 150 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Therefore, it wasn’t an entirely misplaced expectation that he will continue to fire in the ICC showpiece, which is perhaps his final chance to earn India an ICC World Cup after 13 years.
But three matches have gone by, and Kohli has five runs at an average of 1.66, including a ‘Golden Duck’ against the USA.
His form has provided an interesting subplot to the game against tournament-debutants Canada, which is otherwise inconsequential, at least for India.
Perhaps, an 1850km trip from New York to Florida might bring with it a turnaround in fortunes for Kohli, who must be hurting after those ordinary outings.