Mohammad Kaif and Navjot Sidhu jumped to Virat Kohli’s aid in wake of the ‘strike-rate’ debate surrounding the former RCB captain.
Virat Kohli played one of his most fluent T20 knocks in recent memory when his unbeaten 70 off 44 balls powered Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a nine-wicket-win over Gujarat Titans on Sunday. Kohli notched up his fourth half-century of the season to take his tally to 500 runs, firmly consolidating his position as the Orange Cap holder. With an average of 71.4 and strike-rate of 147.4, Kohli hasn’t done too bad, but as usual, the daggers are out. The pace at which Kohli has scored runs and his strike-rate against spinners has come under scrutiny in the wake of RCB’s poor run in IPL 2024, more so after the Sunrisers Hyderabad game, where he ambled to 51 off 43 balls.
Virat Kohli’s ‘strike-rate’ is the hottest IPL topic right now(PTI)
After Kohli and Will Jacks successfully gunned down 200 – the latter scoring his maiden IPL century with an unbeaten 100 off 41 balls – the former RCB captain came up with a fiery response to his critics. Kohli slammed his doubters and questioned their position to make statements ‘from the box’. Kohli pointed out how after playing for 15 years, he knows his job – to ensure his team wins – with most of it stemming from muscle memory.
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Kohli’s post-match comment created quite a stir, his ‘attitude’ not impressing users on X. However, Kohli found support from former India cricketers Mohammad Kaif and Navjot Sidhu. During the second game of Sunday’s double-header, Kaif and Sidhu, while doing commentary, touched upon the debate surrounding Kohli’s strike-rate, jumping to the aid of the former India captain.
“All I hear about these days is strike-rate. People are after Kohli. Boss, between overs 7 and 15, it’s obvious to slow down. The economy-rate of a spinner is lower than a fast bowler. Why? Because they bowl the middle overs,” Kaif said.
What else is Virat Kohli going to do, asks Sidhu
While Kohli has been compared to legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Sidhu reminded how Virat isn’t a God, and that expecting him to do everything and tick all boxes makes the public wrong on their part. Citing an example of Kohli’s exemplary batting against Titans’ Sai Kishore, whom Kohli smashed for back-to-back sixes in the sixth over, Sidhu challenged to show him a batter who excels at taking a slow left-arm bowler against the spin.
“People think Kohli is God. He is a human, so will play like a human too. Rather than nitpick, why don’t we look at the fact that the guy has 80 centuries. That’s his strength and weakness, he has none. And if you look carefully, today he played off the backfoot and lofted the spinners. Tell me how many can do that? Hitting a left-arm spinner against the spin… how many can do that? So Kohli has a presence, he cherishes his wicket too. What else is he supposed to do?” mentioned Sidhu.
Kohli’s spectacular form comes at a time when Team India’s squad for the T20 World Cup can be announced anytime. With pitches in the West Indies and USA expected to be two-paced, batting isn’t going to be easy, which is where Kohli’s experience promises to come handy. The last time India played the T20 World Cup in the West Indies back in 2010, Kohli wasn’t part of the squad, but after all those tours of the Caribbean, where Kohli put on a run-fest. And as India wish to finally put an end to their ICC trophy jinx, hopes are pinned on Kohli.
