IPL 2024: Virat Kohli after scoring 92 against PBKS for RCB.© BCCI/Sportzpics
Another day, another conversation about strike rate, with Virat Kohli at the center. However, this time Kohli himself raised the subject. After scoring a match-winning 47-ball 92 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Punjab Kings, in which he reached a strike-rate of 195.74 with the help of six sixes and seven fours, Kohli brought up the strike-rate conversation again during the break halfway through the innings. The boldness of the statement and his smiling gesture gave the strong impression that he was aiming at something.
“It was important for me to maintain the strike rate throughout (laughs). I was just focused on carrying the momentum forward. There was a tricky phase when Rajat got out, and there was a break for rain and hail .We had a bit of a break in momentum,” he said during the innings break.
“Had to rebuild for 8-10 balls. Once the base was set and Cam was a few boundaries away I thought I'd have to go again. The surface was quite dry and there was some grass cover too. If you saw Faf and I were set up by a lack of pace off the field. There was a two-pace feeling with the new ball, which I think is a great opportunity for our bowlers to get through early and exploit that swing. We thought that all more than 230 wax would be a good total here.
Despite his good form in the IPL 2024, pundits were more likely to express concerns about his strike rate, especially when compared to modern T20 batting.
To which Kohli recently said, “All the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing well are the ones who talk about these things.
“For me it's about winning games for the team and there's a reason why you've been doing this for 15 years. You've done this day in and day out, you've won games for your teams, I haven't.” I'm pretty sure if you haven't been in that situation yourself, you can talk about the game from the box.”
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