Virat Kohli statement to the broadcasters on Sunday came exactly a year after his back-and-forth with former India captain Sunil Gavaskar.
Unlike in 2024, the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been less about big-hitting and more about adaptability. One of those instances was seen on Sunday evening at the Arun Jaitley Stadium when the Royal Challengers Bengaluru were put in the trickiest chase against Delhi Capitals – they were set a target of 163. However, a masterclass from Virat Kohli, who carved out a well-composed half-century, his sixth this season, saw RCB survive on the sluggish Delhi track to chase down the total with nine balls to spare.
RCB were three down in the fourth over of the chase for just 26 runs. But Kohli, along with Krunal Pandya, stitched an innings-reviving 119-run stand to help RCB go to the top of the points table. The 36-year-old smashed just four boundaries and faced only 10 dot balls, as his 47-ball knock was a typical Kohli template of keeping the scoreboard running with runs between the wickets.
After the knock, in a fresh jibe at critics over the long-standing strike rate debate, Kohli highlighted the importance of “stitching a partnership and taking it deep,” especially in such tricky conditions.
“The total on the board. What the conditions are like. Who are the bowlers that are due to bowl. Who are the bowlers that are going to be hard to get away,” Kohli listed as the things he factors in while chasing. “So, I try and make sure that my singles and doubles don’t stop. And then you keep getting the odd boundary in between. The game never gets stagnant. So, that’s always been my focus to keep working on rotating strikes, singles and doubles.
“People, I think, are forgetting the importance of stitching in a partnership or going deep into the innings in T20 cricket,” Kohli told the host broadcaster. “And I think this year around, you’re seeing that you can’t just come out and tee off from ball one. You need to have professionalism, to read the situation and try and get into a position where you can start dominating the bowlers.
“And for that, you need to string in a partnership. And it won’t come easy on a slow pitch if you don’t know how to rotate the strike. So, yeah, that’s pretty much my method.
“I analyse the conditions, understand what the score on the board is, understand what the situation demands of me and have the skills to kind of keep rotating the strike and not be stagnant on one end.”
What had happened between Kohli and Sunil Gavaskar?
Kohli statement to the broadcasters on Sunday came exactly a year after his back-and-forth with former India captain Sunil Gavaskar.
During a contest against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gavaskar launched an on-air criticism of Kohli’s strike rate. He was frustrated at the former RCB captain’s lack of risk taking despite the presence of big-hitters in the line-up.
Following an impressive show a few days later in the match against Gujarat Titans, Kohli said it’s one thing to play in the field and another to sit and speak about the ‘game from a box’. He said, “I am not quite sure if you’ve been in that situation yourself to sit and speak about the game from a box. I don’t really think it’s the same thing [as playing out there]. So for me, it’s just about doing my job. People can talk about their own ideas and assumptions of the game, but those who have done it day in [and] day out know what’s happening, and it’s kind of a muscle memory for me now.”
Gavaskar hit back, saying that commentators have no vested interest in targeting players, and that he made the comment after merely watching his strike rate of just 118.
He said, “If you have a strike rate of 118, you come and face the first ball, and then you get out in the 14th or 15th over and your strike rate is 118 – if you want applause for that, then that’s a little bit different,”
“We’ve all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket, but we speak about what we see. We don’t necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes or dislikes, we actually speak about what’s happening. So, I would be very disappointed if Star Sports showed this once more because that would be questioning all of us commentators.” Gavaskar added.
