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IPL 2024: Virat Kohli unveils a braver side to opening
Climbing to his highest IPL strike rate in 17 seasons, Kohli offers an alternate World Cup strategy
2016 is widely acknowledged as the season where Virat Kohli finally came into his own, opening RCB’s batting and almost shouldering it alone to stop 27 short of 1000 IPL runs in a single season.
He has gone past 600 runs in an IPL season for the fourth time now, but more significantly, at a strike rate higher than ever in the past 16 seasons. It was 152.03 in 2016, in 2024 it climbed to 153.51. Statistically, the difference isn’t much. But for someone frequently nudged to prove his relevance at a time white-ball cricket is changing pretty much every year, Kohli’s latest reinvention speaks volumes about his character.
Two things stand out for Virat Kohli in this season. He has hit 30 sixes, making this the first IPL season since 2016 (38 sixes in 16 matches) that he has touched that mark. For a classical batter who was once hardwired to aim for more boundaries through the ‘V’ than take the aerial route, this is a massive statement of intent. Also engrossing is how Kohli has recalibrated his middle-overs approach, as was evident during his 47-ball 92 against Punjab Kings on Thursday.
ALSO READ: What are the chances of Virat Kohli opening for India at T20 World Cup having burned up the charts in IPL 2024?
RCB waltzing to 100 in just the ninth over was more probably because of Rajat Patidar bringing out the sledgehammer against Rahul Chahar but equally damaging was Kohli’s strike rate of 184 although he hadn’t faced any spinner till then. When Kohli finally did—against Liam Livingstone in the 11th over—he was taken aback by the turn and could score just two out of four balls faced. Next over from Chahar fetched three from three balls. Not until Livingstone was brought again did Kohli open up, flicking him through midwicket before slog-sweeping him for consecutive fours.
Overall, Kohli scored 23 off 13 against Livingstone and Chahar, giving him a strike rate of 177 against spinners. This was quite a shift from Kohli's first nine IPL games this year, where he had a strike rate of 123.58 against spinners. At the heart of this turnaround against spinners is Kohli’s will to experiment with unconventional shots like the slog sweep.
“I’ve brought out the slog-sweep to the spinners,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation after RCB’s 60-run win. “I just mentally put myself in that situation and I didn't practice it at all. I know I can hit it because I've hit it a lot in the past. So, I just felt like I needed to take a bit more risk and for me that shot was something that I used to hit regularly back in the day.”
That strategy paid off magnificently as Kohli finished with a strike rate of 187.5 in the 7-15 overs, meaning RCB’s scoring rate never tapered off in the phase it usually does. Kohli not gearing down throughout the innings also unveiled a different side to him that isn’t bothered about getting out as long as he gives such starts.
“So, I think it just takes a bit more conviction and takes out that thought that props up: 'what if you get out'," Kohli said. “I've been managing to stay ahead of that thought in this IPL and that's really helped me in the middle overs in this IPL, keeping my strike rate up and keeping the scoring rate going for the team as well.”
It’s more or less given Yashasvi Jaiswal will open with Rohit Sharma at the T20 World Cup, with Suryakumar Yadav Kohli at 3 or 4, or vice-versa. Kohli’s reinvented IPL form however again makes for a compelling argument to consider him for opening, should there be second thoughts. Not only because the best batter of a team must be given as much time as possible but also because Kohli has excelled at this position in the IPL too, averaging more (46.14 to 35.19 at No 3 and 34.18 at No 4) and striking at a higher rate (137.87 to 123.79 at No 3 and 131.47 at No 4).
To this add the intent to never take his position for granted, working on what he feels are “some added challenges in terms of improving your own game, certain aspects of your game that you want to get better at. Because it's an ever-evolving process and I am certainly not a guy who wants to sit around saying this is the way I play and not improve on the things I need to.”
Fearless batting has been the anthem of T20 specialists for sometime now. Jaiswal perhaps is a more natural fit opening the batting for India since age is often equated to spunk. This version of Kohli however presents to India a unique fusion of experience and fearlessness, with a life-long guarantee that should things go sideways, no one is better equipped to take corrective action. RCB are happily benefitting from it. But will India take a cue?
