'He means business, no smiling, nothing' - Kevin Pietersen after watching Virat Kohli in the nets

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen feels that Virat Kohli might take a bit longer to complete his transition from being the captain to now being just a player. Virat had given up on the captaincy after the conclusion of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.

While people thought the relief from the captaincy burden will help him focus on his game and regain the long-lost form, he has not been able to perform much in IPL 2022. Kohli has managed to score just 119 runs in the seven matches that he has played so far.

“Virat Kohli, he likes to be the star of the show. But now Faf du Plessis is the star of the show. He is the one who is running the ship. He gets the big suite in the hotel or maybe no, Virat might still get a bigger room than anyone else. However, it’s very difficult to become a soldier again. You are not the one in the middle who is making the big decisions. You are not the one who is commanding respect,” Pietersen told Star Sports, the broadcaster, on Tuesday.

Virat Kohli smashed 41 against the Punjab Kings, and 48 against the Mumbai Indians, which gave some hope of him returning to his form, but he has not managed to perform much in the remaining five games. In the match against the Lucknow Super Giants, he was dismissed for a golden a duck by Dushmantha Chameera.

Virat might take a couple more games to find his feet: Pietersen

“When you become a captain, you start to get looked at completely differently by fans, by the players, your teammates and the coaching staff. When you come back in, all of them will monitor whether you can become a good soldier again. So I think for Virat, this is tough. You can see that in his performances at the moment. He is taking time to find his feet. He might take a couple more games to find his feet,” he added.

Pietersen said that Kohli was in a different form during the warm-up and his intensity indicated he was there for a reason, with a fixed purpose in mind. “I watched his warm-up. He means business. No smiling, no nothing, no cuddles, no hellos… He is like ‘I am focused, I want to get the job done’,” he concluded.