IPL 2020: ‘He needs to change gears a lot quicker’ - Virender Sehwag’s advice to Virat Kohli
Royal Challengers Bangalore lost four straight games on the trot but have somehow managed to scrape through to the playoffs and will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator on Friday. The recent string of losses has exposed a serious flaw in RCB’s middle-order especially with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers struggling to score runs at explosive strike rates.
While Kohli has scored 460 runs in 14 games at an average of 46, his strike rate of 122 has actually become a cause of concern. With the batsman taking his time in the middle to get going, RCB have struggled in the past few games in between overs 7-15, and it has affected them in putting on a good total to chase. (IPL 2020 Full Coverage)
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Speaking in a video on Cricbuzz, former India opener Virender Sehwag opined that Kohli should switch gears quicker than he is doing at the moment.
“Virat Kohli needs to switch gears a lot quicker. He takes around 20-25 balls to change gears and then when he gets out, the team gets into trouble,” Sehwag explained.
“This is what happened against Delhi Capitals. If he hadn’t got out, he could have scored 40-ball 70 or 80, which would have led to RCB putting on a respectable total. When he gets out early, his strike rate is not that great. It is just around, 110-120, and then the team seems to be in trouble,” he added.
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Kohli is a smart cricketer and he has caught what has not worked out for his team it seems. After the 6-wicket loss to DC, the RCB skipper, at the post-match presentation ceremony said that the batsman need to be more brave in the middle.
“We can be more more brave with the bat in pockets. With the ball, we were decent, probably we could have a strong Powerplay which is our strength. If we implement those things, we’ll be at the right end of the result,” Kohli had said.
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