Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Kaif rushed to Virat Kohli’s defence and silenced his ‘strike rate’ criticis with an example of Travis Head.
Prior to IPL 2024, there were questions hanging about Virat Kohli’s selection for Team India’s T20 World Cup squad. But the former India captain silenced his critics in style and has been scoring runs with ease this season. His franchise’s form has been in stark contrast, with RCB bottom of the points table with six points in 10 matches.
The former players used Travis Head to defend Virat Kohli.
Despite RCB’s position in the table, Kohli can’t be ignored and has been included in India’s squad for the ICC showpiece event. He is currently second in the Orange Cap race with 500 runs in 10 matches, packed with a ton (113*) and four half-centuries. The distance between him and Orange Cap holder Ruturaj Gaikwad (506) is meagre and Kohli could go into the lead once again.
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Although runs have come in plenty for Kohli this season, many experts and fans have questioned his strike rate of 147.49 this season. Many have felt that his batting approach has been slow and orthodox, something which doesn’t suit modern T20 cricket. Many commentators have also used this criticism on live broadcast.
So, former India cricketers Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Kaif decided to rush to Kohli’s defence and silenced his critics with an analogy after Sunrisers Hyderabad’s match against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday. Commenting on Travis Head’s 44-ball 58-run knock, the pair pointed out that if it was Kohli, then everyone would have been talking about his strike rate.
“According to his ability, you have never seen him play like this. No matter what you say that there was good bowling and everything, but every cricketer should be treated equally,” Irfan said.
Kaif, visibly impressed by Irfan’s observation, added, “You are right, if this was Virat Kohli, I can guarantee that people would have said only 58 runs in 44 balls? What is this? They would say it is low and there would have debates about his strike rate. But I believe that this was a good innings by Head.”
“But if there was Virat Kohli instead, people would have stuck to the strike rate but here we are talking about taking responsibility for team’s victory, so please treat everyone equally,” Irfan concluded.
RCB take on GT in their upcoming IPL 2024 fixture, on Saturday. Kohli will be looking to add more runs to his season tally and help his side extend their winning run.
