Virat Kohli is a champion player, but the time has come for him to fully understand he needs to change his batting approach in T20s.
Virat Kohli’s strike rate is a contentious issue right now. Fans are quite emotional about it, which is understandable. For a very long time, he has been India’s number one batsman across formats and a match-winner by all means. Those two sixes against Haris Rauf in the 2022 World T20 and India’s thrilling win against arch-rivals Pakistan are still fresh in our minds.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli (ANI)
But say what you will, there is an issue with his batting approach in the shortest format of the game. Last night in the Bangalore-Kolkata game in the Indian Premier League, Kohli scored a 59-ball 83* as Bangalore put up a solid-looking 182/6 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. At the halfway stage, if you were an RCB fan, you would feel good about the score and how the former captain of the franchise carried his bat as a builder of the innings.
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A couple of hours later, you would feel horrible though. Kolkata chased down the target with a whopping 19 balls to go. Kohli remained the highest scorer of the match, but at the end of the day, his team was on the losing side.
His strike rate once again has come under scrutiny. In the previous game against Punjab, he scored a match-winning 49-ball 77 (strike rate 157.14). In the game before against Chennai, he scored a 20-ball 21. His strike rate on Friday night was 140.68.
The devoted fans of the former Indian captain will argue that a team needs at least one builder of the innings in the XI, a role which Kohli is fulfilling to a tee at present. The other argument could be why the other batsmen in the team are not performing as per their roles and why Kohli gets all the blame every time the team loses.
The problem with the builder theory is that if a batsman is not prepared to take too many risks, it affects the other batsman at the non-striker’s end. His job basically doubles in size. Also since Kohli is a batsman of great renown and skills, the non-strikers may be inclined to play second fiddle, hoping the 35-year-old would rather take charge.
Not everyone thinks like Virender Sehwag who scored runs at a faster pace than Sachin Tendulkar back in the day. Finally, some players, especially those who are big names themselves in international cricket, might not be happy with the situation that they get to play an easier role in the team.
This kind of approach is okay when the team is chasing a target of 160-170 or when the pitch is really tricky, which, mind you, doesn’t happen often in T20 cricket. Against Pakistan, India were chasing 160 runs to win and Kohli’s approach worked miracles eventually. But then against England in the semifinal, he scored a 40-ball 50. In the same match, Hardik Pandya scored a 33-ball 63. Thanks to Kohli’s approach, India were 25-30 runs short and England, with no real scoreboard pressure to speak of, chased down 169 with 24 balls to go.
One can now understand why the reports that came out recently that Indian selectors were planning to drop Kohli for the upcoming World T20 in the West Indies and the US created such a buzz. It gave fans some food for thought and an overwhelming majority just didn’t like it.
Kohli is a champion player, but the time has come for him to fully understand he needs to change his batting approach in T20s. A 20-ball 40 has much more potential to win you a game than a 50-ball 70. And since now India have so many options like Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag at their disposal, he can be passed over for selection, unless he decides to change in the remainder of the league.
India have not won any ICC trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy and fans are now getting desperate. Despite being a top-ranked side across formats, they have underperformed in ICC tournaments. Fans are losing patience and any change which can help India break the jinx will be greatly appreciated, even if it is moving on from Kohli in T20s.
It can’t go on like this forever. Kohli will remember that Yuvraj Singh’s two crucial attacking innings against England and Australia in the inaugural World T20 in 2007 were instrumental in India winning their only ICC trophy in the format to date. By Kohli’s high standards, fans expect him to do that more often than not.
