Great players go through phases like this: Du Plessis on Kohli

TIL Desk Sports/ Batting stalwart Virat Kohli has been horribly out of form in this IPL but he got the backing of his Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis, who on Tuesday said ‘great players go through phases like this’.

Kohli was promoted to the top of the order against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday after scoring back-to-back ducks but that move also did not yield the desired result as the former India captain was out for nine. RCB lost the match by 29 runs. “We tried changing the batting line-up today and we feel that they can try playing positively,” du Plessis said when asked about a struggling Kohli being sent to bat as an opener along with him.

“(Kohli) Can’t go into a shell. Great players go through phases like this and we wanted to get him in the game straightaway so that he doesn’t sit in the sidelines and think about the game. It’s a game of confidence.” Du Plessis, however, admitted that his top-order batters are lacking in consistency and his side will have to fix the problem sooner than later.