Will Virat Kohli recover his lost form? Faf du Plessis chimes in on the debate

Former South African captain Faf du Plessis said on Wednesday that Indian batter Virat Kohli will be supremely motivated to put the struggling phase behind him and that he is capable recovering his purple patch soon.

Kohli struggled in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. He aggregated 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five matches, though he had scored a century in the first game at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

Du Plessis supported Kohli to come back strong, having shared the dressing room with him at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), adding that retiring from the game is a very personal choice.

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“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you’ll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3’s Captain’s Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he’s gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

Du Plessis reflected on the time when he hung his boots from the longest format.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn’t have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.