Fans demanded a public apology from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar after Virat Kohli mocked critics of his strike rate in T20 cricket after his blistering 92-run knock against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) this week.
“Was important for me to keep up the strike rate right through (laughs). I was just focused on taking 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 stop of momentum,” Virat Kohli said during the mid-match break.
“Had to rebuild for 8-10 balls. Once the base was set and Cam got a few boundaries away, I thought I had to go again. Surface was pretty dry underneath, and there was some grass coverage as well. If you saw Faf and me got done by lack of pace off the pitch. There was a two-paced feel with the new ball, which I think is a great opportunity for our bowlers to make early inroads and exploit that swing out there. We thought anything over 230 would be a good total here. That was the only mindset,” he explained.
His comments appeared to target Sunil Gavaskar, who recently raised questions about Virat Kohli’s lack of desire to take risks in the T20 format.
Subsequently, Virat Kohli took an indirect swipe at Sunil Gavaskar during his fiery rant in a previous game in IPL 2024.
“All the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well are the ones who love talking about this stuff. But for me, it’s just about winning the game for the team. And there’s a reason why you do it for 15 years – because you’ve done this day in [and] day out; you’ve won games for your teams,” Virat Kohli said after RCB’s win over Gujarat Titans.
“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,” he added.
Virat Kohli’s comments didn’t go well with Sunil Gavaskar, who fired back at the superstar cricketer, asking why he was bothered about “outside noise”.
“Commentators questioned only when his strike rate was 118. I’m not too sure. I don’t watch too many matches, so I don’t know what the other commentators have said otherwise. But if you come and open and then have a strike of 118 when you get out in the 14th or the 15th over, I mean, if you want applause for that, that’s a little bit different. That’s different,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“All these guys talk about, ‘oh we don’t care about outside noise’. Accha! Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don’t have agendas. We speak about what we see. We don’t necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we actually speak on what is happening,” the 1983 World Cup winner expressed.
With RCB’s fate in the tournament hanging by a thread, Virat Kohli brought out his A-game against Punjab Kings. He was equally aggressive against the pacers and spinners. In particular, to deal with slow bowlers, the 35-year-old used the slog sweep and the slog to good effect.
Of the 92 runs, Virat Kohli made 26 of them against the spinners. With this approach, Virat Kohli seems to be taking a dig at his critics, who have often criticized his batting style against the spinners.
The prime criticism of Virat Kohli regarding his batting against the spinners was his inability to hit sixes and boundaries in the middle overs. However, all that vanished in the last two games of this season’s IPL.
After taking the trio of Gujarat Titans spinners, R Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, and Noor Ahmad to the cleaners in RCB’s previous game in Ahmedabad, Virat Kohli produced another masterclass, this time showing the same intent against the Punjab Kings tweakers.
En route to his 92 off 47 deliveries, Virat Kohli smashed six sixes and seven fours to ensure RCB posted a huge total of 241/7 in their allocated 20 overs.
In reply, Punjab Kings were never in the hunt as they were bowled out for 181 in 17 overs. It was RCB’s 5th victory in the ongoing IPL, which also kept the Bengaluru-based franchise in contention for the playoffs.
Meanwhile, during the course of his innings, Virat Kohli became the first batter to go past the 600-run mark in IPL 2024. His current tally of runs in the 17th season of the IPL stands at 634 runs in 12 games.
Additionally, he joined Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul in an elite IPL list. With his tally of over 600 runs in IPL 2024, Virat Kohli became only the second batter after KL Rahul to breach that mark on four different occasions.
Besides, Virat Kohli entered the list of top 5 players who have hit the most sixes in IPL 2024. While he has 30 maximums to his name this season, SRH’s is at the pinnacle of the charts with 35 sixes.
More must-reads: