As the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 begins, all eyes are on Champion Player Virat Kohli, the batting sensation who will lead Team India's drive with the bat. With the competition officially started, Team India is keen to overcome their trophy drought, since they last won an ICC trophy in 2013. Since then, India has had several close calls, including a defeat to Australia in the ODI World Cup at home last year [2023].

Talking about his recent performance, right-handed batter Virat Kohli scored 741 runs in 15 matches, including a century and five half-centuries. He also became the first-ever Indian player to finish the IPL season as the top-scorer twice.

However, his former IPL [Royals Challengers Bengaluru] and India teammate Dinesh Karthik recently shed light on Kohli's struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with Cricbuzz, the former wicketkeeper-batsman explained that the empty stands significantly impacted Kohli's performance. According to Karthik, the absence of fans and the lack of a vibrant atmosphere played a major role in Kohli's challenges over the past two years in 2020 and 2021. After the century against Bangladesh in November 2019, he finally scored another in international cricket in September 2022. 

"Very disarming for a start when you don't play with crowds. It took us sometime when we played in IPL without any crowds, it was very weird. When you know you hit a shot, you feel like you are playing in a domestic game.

"It very much feels like that, there is nobody around to clap, no sounds. At times, you only hear some claps from the dressing room. It is very weird and it is very hard for people who have played international cricket consistently.

"I really feel one of Virat Kohli's reasons for him not to have done as well as he generally does during that covid phase is the fact there was no crowd around," said Karthik.

"He is someone who completely gets enamored and you know likes getting pushed by crowds and then the likes of Hardik Pandya, you can keep naming big names from India and other parts of the country as well.

"For Virat Kohli, I can say that would have definitely played a massive part, just playing to nobody it would feel weird. It is one thing playing to a TV audience, which is great but you don't hear them clapping for you. It is a very different feeling to play in front of no one," he further added.