RCB opening batsman Virat Kohli was once again in the thick of the action on Thursday, hitting 51 runs off 43 deliveries with 4 boundaries and a six. However, despite the veteran batsman’s half-century, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar wasn’t too impressed with his performance and criticised the batsman for his slow strike rate against SRH, stating that it wasn’t the kind of performance his team expected from the veteran batsman.
Notably, Virat Kohli started the innings aggressively with Faf Du Plessis, but after the wicket of his opening partner and the subsequent end of the 6-over powerplay, the veteran batsman seemed more focused on taking singles rather than hitting the big shots. Moreover, the experienced batsman did not hit a single boundary after the 4th over mark and instead scored the next 28 runs of his innings at less than a run a ball even as Rajat Patidar continued to hit the SRH bowlers for boundaries and sixes.
Sunil Gavaskar criticizes Virat Kohli’s 51 run knock against SRH:
Speaking about Kohli’s inability to hit the big shots during commentary, Gavaskar said, “It’s just been singles, singles and singles from Kohli. There is [Dinesh] Karthik to come; there is [Mahipal] Lomror to come. You’ve got to try and take a few risks now. Look at Patidar. He had already hit three sixes in that over. If he wanted, he could have taken a single or left the ball for a wide. But no, he went for it because the opportunity was there,”
Speaking after the innings to Star Sports, the former Indian cricketer said, “In the middle, he just seemed to have lost touch. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but I think from 31-32 to the time he got out, he did not hit a boundary. So at the end of the day, when he got out when you are facing the strike in the first ball of the innings and you get out in the 14th or the 15th over, you have got strike rate of 118, that’s not what your team expects from you,”
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Published: 26 Apr 2024, 09:21 AM IST
