One of the premier batsmen of his era, Kohli has endured a prolonged run drought and is without a century in international cricket since his 70th in a test match in November 2019.

India begin their Asia Cup title defence against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday and few players would have more at stake in the Twenty20 tournament than the elegant 33-year-old batsman from Delhi.

“This month that he’s had off cricket will make sure that that light’s shining very bright going into this Asia Cup, knowing there’s a T20 World Cup in Australia coming up as well,” Watson told the ICC Review programme.

“…for Virat to be able to have some time off, especially a month, that’s just going to regenerate everything he needs to be able to take stock of what happened, freshen up mentally and physically.