Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Virat Kohli has been in phenomenal form with 500 runs in 10 matches so far in Indian Premier League 2024. However, the Indian batter has also been under the light of insinuations over slow strike rate despite being the highest-run getter. While the other top-order batters are often regarded for their frenetic batting style in the powerplay, naming the run machine in the list has often been doubtful.
Kohli, though, has kept himself a class above the constructive criticism by reflecting a clear intent to garner runs at a lightning-quick speed. After playing a blazing knock of 70 off 44 balls against former IPL champions Gujarat Titans, the Indian batter went head-on with the critics while talking to the broadcasters.
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“All the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well are the ones talking about this stuff (his low strike-rate),” Kohli had said. “For me, it’s about winning the games for the team and there’s a reason why you’ve done it for 15 years, you’ve done this day in and day out, you’ve won games for your teams, I’m not quite sure that if you haven’t been in that situation yourself, to sit and talk about the game from the box.”
Talking about the series of events, former Kiwi pacer Simon Doull believed that Kohli shouldn’t fuss over the ‘rubbish’ criticism being thrown against him. “Interesting that he (Kohli) goes back to these things because they won’t be asking him. Are you looking up your strike rate? Those won’t be the questions. Clearly he’s reading social media or someone is reading all the social media about him,” Doull said on Cricbuzz.
{{/usCountry}}Talking about the series of events, former Kiwi pacer Simon Doull believed that Kohli shouldn’t fuss over the ‘rubbish’ criticism being thrown against him. “Interesting that he (Kohli) goes back to these things because they won’t be asking him. Are you looking up your strike rate? Those won’t be the questions. Clearly he’s reading social media or someone is reading all the social media about him,” Doull said on Cricbuzz.
{{/usCountry}}Doull also added that the RCB opener had been using post-match presentations as an occasion to take on the critics and that there was no point doing so. Kohli has so far scored 4 fifties as well as a hundred in this year’s IPL and will be gearing up for the T20 World Cup in June.
"He (Kohli) does this quite often in post-match presentations, where he has a point to make about stuff that is written about him. Why is he bothering? I mean, seriously, the bloke is such a good player. Why is he bothering reading the rubbish that some people write or why are people reading it and telling him? I don’t understand that? I just look at what he’s done. Why would you bother reading social media and try to make a point about it in interviews? If he’s reading social media, he should have better things to do,” Doull concluded.