Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) returned to winning ways but the manner of their victory doesn’t paint a promising picture. Rajat Patidar’s fiery knock of 50 runs from 20 balls proved to be the difference-maker as the franchise reached 206/7 in 20 overs. RCB’s bowling unit, which has failed to fire in most occasions, put one of its finest displays, rattling the SRH top order early in the match. Though the win keeps RCB in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs, there remains a big issue for the franchise to address. It’s Virat Kohli’s post-powerplay game. (IPL 2024 Points Table)
Against Hyderabad, the talismanic batter started off well, scoring 32 runs from 18 ball inside the powerplay. But, right after the end of the 6th over, the pace with which Virat scored runs went drastically down.
Kohli could only score 19 runs off 25 balls while failing to hit a single boundary. As bowlers like Jaydev Unadkat took pace off the ball, Virat found it incredibly hard to middle the ball and accumulate fast runs for his team. The result was that the iconic batter didn’t even celebrate as he reached his half-century.
But, with such troubled times in the middle, Virat couldn’t stick to the pitch for long and was dismissed for 51 off 43 balls.
As the IPL has progressed, the criticism of Kohli’s strike-rate has also intensified, especially amid the chatter around the T20 World Cup 2024 selection. Virat, one of the greats of the game, hasn’t convinced everyone with his approach in the shortest format of the game. Though there seems to be clear intent to accelerate, Kohli tends to slow down in the middle overs, hence affecting the tempo with which his team wants to score runs.
With teams consistently scoring over 200 runs in this IPL, there remains little room for an anchor in T20 cricket. Even Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Daniel Vettori admitted the same in the post-match press conference.
“I think the wicket was still pretty good. The guys who came off said that it is a surface where you can score on. Anchor role when you are chasing 207 it is hard to come, you obviously need to be aggressive. For some to sit along and play anchor role is a little bit tricky,” Vettori said after the game.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad game is a clear example of the area where Kohli needs to improve, that too in a short span of time, as the T20 World Cup selection and the showpiece event itself remain only a month away.
