Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli has been unable to hit his straps despite trying too hard. And, his constant struggle to find batting perfection has not yielded fruitful results, registering small scores repeatedly. Kohli mustered 22 off 38 during India’s opening match of the ongoing Champions Trophy against Bangladesh on Thursday in Dubai. 

Virat Kohli has been able to score only 137 runs in last six ODI innings since the 2023 World Cup.  His innings also includes one half-century that he recently scored in the third ODI against England. Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble feels that Virat Kohli is putting a lot of pressure on himself which is making things complex for him. 

"Having been through a lean patch, so to speak, especially in white-ball cricket - he hasn't had that kind of run for a long period of time - I feel he's trying a bit too hard," Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo.

“When you have that kind of pressure and you have that kind of expectation, you suddenly start putting undue importance to all of that and then try hard to do well. When you do that, you're not really relaxed.”

"The best innings that I am sure he's played, he's not even thinking about all of that. The best bowling performances, you're not even thinking about all of that.

"I think he's trying a bit too hard. You can see that in the way he is going about his innings. He just needs to not worry about it. He just needs to come in and not worry about anything else."

Kohli, notably, has struggled a lot against spinners and has been taken out by the spinners in his last six innings. 

"To start off against spin, on surfaces like that, you need a lot of confidence. He's certainly trying too hard to manoeuvre that. He's a good player of spin when he's in form, when he's wanting to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike.” 

"All players go through tough moments in their career, but I get a feeling watching him bat, I think he is putting a lot more pressure on himself. he just needs to relax a little bit and not worry too much about the outcome of what happens on the field rather than just go out there and have the freedom to just go and play naturally what he does really well," Kumble said.