The astonished look on Virat Kohli’s face after being castled by Adil Rashid in the third and final ODI at Leeds in 2018 hinted that it was a brilliant delivery from the England leg-spinner.

Rashid did obtain sharp turn as the ball had pitched on middle-and-leg before uprooting Kohli’s off-stump. But, for someone batting on 71 at a strike rate of 100 — which Kohli was that day — is it so difficult to negotiate such a delivery?

Of course, to err is human and at the end of the day, Kohli, too, is one. If numbers talk, the former India captain averages 67.40 against spinners in 50-over cricket, which reflects his dominance.

Having said that, most of the white-ball games these days are played on flat tracks with nothing much for the bowlers. On such wickets, Kohli continues to be deadly for the opposition.

But on pitches where there have been something on offer for the tweakers, the fluency was somewhat missing from his game even if Kohli had scored 50 or more in those innings. For instance, his 54 against Australia in the third and final ODI on a slow track in Chennai in March this year wasn’t really a convincing knock, where leg-spinner Adam Zampa and left-armer Ashton Agar made scoring difficult for him till he fell off the latter’s bowling.

To speak of Zampa, he hasn’t just dismissed Kohli on five occasions in ODIs, but also stifled him to a fair extent in terms of run-scoring. Besides, left-arm spinners (Mitchell Santner, Agar and young Sri Lankan Dunith Wellalage) have already dismissed him on four occasions in ODIs so far this year.

The angle the left-armers can create when bowling round the wicket leads to problems for many batsmen. And if the pitch is a tad sluggish with the ball gripping onto the surface, Kohli still doesn’t find it to be easy even after 77 international hundreds to his name.

Experts, however, have a different view. “I don’t agree Kohli has problems against spin or left-arm spin. Getting out four times to left-arm spinners or whatever is all a part of the game,” former India captain and ex-chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar told The Telegraph on Wednesday.

“Look, the match situation has a lot to do with your game. Also, on turning tracks, if you try to up the ante and try to play strokes, there’s every possibility of losing your wicket,” former India opener WV Raman explained. “At the same time, when someone has 77 international centuries, you can’t say he has an inherent problem against spin.”

In Test cricket, especially during Kohli’s lean phase — since early 2021 to the first three home Tests against Australia in February-March this year — the star batter didn’t seem to be too comfortable against England off-spinner Moeen Ali and young Australian tweaker Todd Murphy.

Obviously, Tests are a completely different ball game, but going through the rigours of domestic cricket does help in adjusting to challenging conditions regardless of the format.

“Players of yesteryear used to spend a fair amount of time in domestic cricket where you’re bound to come across rank turners,” said Surendra Bhave, a national selector during Kohli’s early days in Team India. “Going through that grind helps a lot when you encounter conditions that are a bit challenging in an international game.

“As for Kohli, I don’t think he has spent that much time in domestic cricket. You can’t blame him as well as he became busy with international commitments quite quickly.

“During an international series or a tournament, you have the chance to spend some time at nets and hone your skills. But there’s a big difference between match simulation and nets.

“Match simulation is the best way to hone your skills. And domestic cricket gives you that opportunity,” Bhave added.