Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar criticized Virat Kohli for his scoring percentage during the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday (April 25).
The former RCB captain scored a half-century but has faced criticism from all sides for his scoring rate. He has caught attention with his batting approach after the end of the powerplay as he scored 51 runs off 43 balls. On a pitch where teammate Rajat Patidar smashed a 19-ball fifty after the powerplay, Virat Kohli struggled to hit boundaries.
Although he got out in the 15th over, Virat Kohli did not hit a single boundary after the fourth over. At one point, he was hitting 23 runs off 11 balls before scoring the final 28 runs off 32 balls. Fortunately, RCB managed to post 206 runs thanks to Patidar’s whirlwind fifty.
Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli’s knock:
Sunil Gavaskar was highly critical of Virat Kohli’s performance with the bat against SRH and claimed that the batting star seemingly lost his touch in the mid overs. Gavaskar also stated that RCB did not expect a strike rate of 118 from someone like Virat Kohli after he managed to bat as low as 15th.
“In the middle, he seemed to have lost touch. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but I think from 31-32 until the time he came out, he didn’t hit any limits. So at the end of the day “When he came out, when you face strike on the first ball of the innings and you get out on the 14th or 15th over, you have a strike rate of 118, that is not what your team expects from you.” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
Meanwhile, RCB managed to win the game by 35 runs to finally end their losing streak. The victory was their second in nine games this season and came after six straight losses. Batting first, RCB scored 206/7 in the allotted 20 overs. In reply, SRH ended their innings on 171 for 8.