Kohli had a very poor tour as he failed to score big against the Kiwis. After a below-average performance in the first Test, which India ended up losing by 10 wickets, Kohli was dismissed for just 3 and 14 runs during the second one in Christchurch that India went on to lose by 7-wickets too.
Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has expressed his disbelief on how brutally the public and the media reacted to Team India skipper Virat Kohli and his side's poor performances against New Zealand in the ODI and Test series away from home.
After whitewashing the Kiwis in the T20s, India lost the three-match ODI series and the two-match Test series convincingly.
"I was once again disappointed by the way critics went after Virat Kohli and his men after the 2-0 Test series loss against New Zealand," Gambhir's column for the Times of India read.
"Everything was questioned. Selection choices, the atmosphere in the dressing room, Japsrit Bumrah's sharpness, or the lack of it, and even Virat Kohli's eyesight," he added.
Kohli had a very poor tour as he failed to score big against the Kiwis. After a below-average performance in the first Test, which India ended up losing by 10 wickets, Kohli was dismissed for just 3 and 14 runs during the second one in Christchurch that India went on to lose by 7-wickets too.
Speaking on the topic of Shaw's debut tour with the serious squad, Gambhir said: "Prithvi Shaw was touring New Zealand in India colours for the first time. Mayank Agarwal is not too old in the piece."
"In the absence of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, the dependency on Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane was way too much. In the end, the conditions proved way too challenging," he added.
The former opener then went on to add how he was disappointed with the fact that India went with four bowlers against the Kiwis in the Tests and with the fact that an inform KL Rahul was left out of the squad.
"Our bowling department was well-served especially with Ishant Sharma returning, though, unfortunately, he ended up getting injured. If anything, I was disappointed to see them playing with four bowlers," the 2011 World Cup-winning batter wrote.
"As I wrote in the past as well, India should always play with five specialist bowlers. Apart from this, they should have retained KL Rahul in the Test team," he added.
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 "Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli")
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