Gautam Gambhir says people only talk about Kohli's form if he fails to score centuries

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has said that current Team India skipper Virat Kohli has set such high standards for himself that one starts talking about his form if he does not succeed in scoring centuries.

Kohli's quest for a 71st international century was prolonged after he failed to trouble the scorers in the opening T20I against England that was contested at Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday. 

'India is obsessed with hundreds': Gautam Gambhir

“You’ve got to remember that India have played Test cricket on difficult wickets. Apart from Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, none of the other batsmen could score consistently in the Tests. And Kohli obviously sets such high standards for himself that we talk about form when he doesn’t score hundreds,” said Gambhir while speaking on Star Sports.

“He has been scoring fifties. He scored a fifty in Adelaide and also got two fifties against England. Yes, he didn’t get a hundred and perhaps that’s why there’s a lot of debate going around. India is obsessed with hundreds,” the 2011 World Cup winner added.

The batting megastar had notched up his last international ton back in November 2019 against Bangladesh in a pink-ball Test match at the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata and in the last 16 months since then, he has failed to breach the three-figure mark.

Virat Kohli disappoints in 1st T20I

The Indian captain had come out to bat at number three after the Men In Blue had lost opener as well as limited-overs specialist KL Rahul in the second over. Nonetheless, his stay in the middle could only last for five deliveries before he was sent back to the dugout by Adil Rashid.

On the third delivery of the third over, the leggie had bowled a floater on the off-side as Virat made room and played a rash shot but, he failed to get the distance as he ended up hitting it straight to Chris Jordan who was stationed at wide mid-off who made no mistake in holding on to a simple catch as Virat Kohli walked back for a duck.