It’s tough to keep the spotlight away from Virat Kohli. He is such a prolific run-scorer that it becomes news even if he misfires once. And if the format is T20s, then scoring runs doesn’t help. The chatter shifts to his strike rate. And rightly so, as the format is such. But should there be talk about a player of Kohli’s calibre when he is the running Orange Cap holder of IPL 2024 and striking at 148? That’s perhaps what has irked Kohli.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter once again dropped a remark about his strike rate after smashing a blistering 92 off just 47 balls against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on Thursday. Kohli’s strike rate was 195.74 against PBKS and it never really dropped throughout the innings. The result? RCB posted their highest score of the season and Kohli’s strike rate jumped from 148 to 153 this year.
Kohli strengthened his hold on the Orange Cap by taking a giant lead over CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. Kohli now has 634 runs in 13 matches.
“It was important to keep up my strike-rate through the innings, so I wanted to take on the momentum,” Kohli said with a wry smile during the mid-innings interview with the broadcasters.
Kohli hit seven fours and six sixes. The butterfingered Punjab fielders were guilty of dropping catches as Kohli and Patidar capitalised on the reprieves to put on 72 off 32 balls after they were invited to bat.
Kohli, who was dropped on 0 and 10, made PBKS pay as he timed the ball nicely, used his feet and wrists to bring up his sixth IPL fifty this season.
‘We could’ve got 250’: Virat Kohli
“It was a tricky phase when Rajat got out, we got three down and the rain came in. So we needed a bit of time to settle but once Cameron hit a few, I thought ‘I have to go again’,” Kohli said.
Patidar, who was also given two lives, provided the early momentum as he slammed six maximums and three fours during his 23-ball 55. Kohli and Cameron Green (46 off 27 balls) continued the onslaught, adding 92 runs off 46 balls to take RCB across the 200-mark.
Green hit five fours and a six before being caught in the final ball of the innings as RCB scored 77 in the last five overs.
“The wicket was a bit two-paced. The ones pitching on the grassy ones were skidding on. Great opportunity for our bowlers to make the early inroads. (Good total batting first today) We weren’t thinking about it. We thought 230+ would be a good total here. Bowlers are confident with recent successes. That was the only mindset. I thought that was a hell of an over from Harshal (Patel), otherwise we’d be 250+,” Kohli added.