5 great batters who made a comeback after enduring a lean patch

Cricket is always a game of uncertainties with possibilities of ups and downs either for a team or an individual player. Speaking of some great Test batters who have ever played the game, then all of them have gone through a lean patch at any point in their whole celebrated career.

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All these batters rank on the list of top run-getters in their international career. But there were also the times for them when they struggle through a poor run of form with the bat.

Here, we’ll have a look at the five batters who went through a thin period with their willow to make a strong comeback in the game.

Ricky Ponting (During 2000-01, 13 Innings)

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Undoubtedly, one of the greatest skippers and batters of all time, Ricky Ponting was considered to be a legend of the game. It was because of the fact that he stunned everyone with his stellar performances at the beginning of his career.

But the period of 2000-01 came very unexpectedly for him when he had to go through a poor form after a 92-run knock against West Indies in the Adelaide encounter. He struggled for every run for a period of three months. He went on to hit the lows on Australia’s tour of India in 2001. But later on, in the year 2001, he stood up again and made a firm comeback in the Leeds Test of Ashes 2001 against England with a centurion knock of 144 runs.

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Alastair Cook (During 2010, 10 Innings)

The highest run scorer in the longest format of the game in the history of English cricket. The journey from Alastair Cook to Sir Alastair was not that much easy for the Gloucester-based batting sensation. Cook started his career at the age of 22 in 2006 against India in the Nagpur Test.

Till 2010, he had scored more than 4,000 runs with the bat with a commendable batting average of over 44. But things went south for the southpaw when Pakistan and Bangladesh toured England and his average went down to 42. During his lean patch in 2010, the then 26-year-old cook could score only 226 runs in 10 innings with an average of only 22.60. He could manage to play only one centurion knock in this phase.

Although, Ashes 2010 arrived as a boon for the former English skipper and he gained his form back in a style.

Michael Clarke (2010-11, 13 Innings)

World Cup winner Aussie skipper still ranks among the top run scorers of Australia in international cricket. He was blessed with an amazing batting class. But the year 2010 came as a nightmare for his batting. He endured a poor patch with the bat in Ashes 2010 followed by Australia’s tour of India.

In this period of a few months, the former skipper could score only 228 runs in 13 innings with a very poor average of 17.53. He could manage to register only a half-century during his thin patch with the willow which was also a head start to his comeback in the game.

AB de Villiers (2006-07, 12 innings)

The most celebrated batter of modern times, he had shown his potential with his extraordinary batting at the beginning of his career. But this period of few months from 2006 to 2007 was like something which he would like to forget while looking back on his illustrious career.

He struggled badly to get runs in consecutive bilateral clashes against India and Pakistan. Batting in 12 innings, he could score only 150 runs with an unforgettable average of 13.63 and an only high score of 47 runs. It took him till January 2008 to score a century in the international to regain the form he is known for.

Virat Kohli (2014-Till date, 10 innings)

The most successful Test captain of team India among the skippers ever led the team in the traditional format of the game. The lad who has 70 international centuries to his name emerged as the one in Indian cricket who carried the superstardom of Suni Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar in the modern era of batting in all forms of cricket.

But things are not in Kohli’s favor since 2014. Former skipper and the senior batter is enduring a lean patch since India toured England in 2014. In this phase, he has scored only 134 runs with a miserable average of 13.40 having the only high score of a mere 39 in his account.