Virat Kohli has been one of the skill full and outstanding talented batters the world cricket has ever seen. Regarding his IPL career, Kohli is the only cricket player to have played for a single franchise throughout the fifteen seasons of IPL. He has made the most runs in tournament history which is 7043 in 225 innings. Unfortunately, his team has never lifted a title trophy, but in every season, he has left a worthy contribution.
‘Slow’ Virat Kohli in IPL 2023:
Virat has been scoring runs at more pace than the last 2 IPL seasons, but such is his class that even 135, 6 more than his overall Indian league strike rate of 129, is not a good enough number for the experts.
The former Australian cricketer Tom Moody has been especially critical of Virat Kohli’s playing style. After Kolhi’s last innings against DC, in which the batsman scored fifty-five off forty-six at 119, Moody did not hold back.
Stating to ESPNCricinfo after Kohli’s innings, Moody remarked, “It’s an interesting one. We will always have this debate because it is the Virat Kohli template. It is the way he bats. His career strike rate is around 130. His ability to continue to churn out runs is quite extraordinary. But did they get as many as they could have? If he took his foot a little off the brake, went with Lomror and tried to target a boundary and over himself, we will never know.”
In addition, Moody commented, “But maybe he also felt that whilst the other end was flying along, his role was to feed that other end. But in my view, particularly with the impact player, the game has moved on from that style of cricket. That is why we are seeing so many totals go to 200 plus. There is no such role. We all need to be going here at 150 plus without a doubt because we have the comfort of depth.”
Virat Kohli’s number in IPL 2023:
Virat Kohli has scored 419 runs in ten matches this season. He batted in every single one and remained not out once. While Kohli’s average has been an effective 46.56, he has knocked the runs at 135.16 and hit 56 times with a high of eighty-two not out. Virat Kohli has scored all the runs as an opener for RCB. Now, let us see how other openers in the IPL have contributed:
- Rajasthan Royals’ Yashasvi Jaiswal has made 477 runs in 11 matches at a genuine strike rate of 160.61 and an average of 43.36.
- Rajasthan Royals Jos Buttler has made 392 runs in 11 matches at a genuine strike rate of 143.59 and an average of 35.64.
- Lucknow Super Giants’ Kyle Mayers has made 359 runs in 11 matches at a genuine strike rate of 152.11 and an average of 32.64.
- Mumbai Indians’ Ishan Kishan has made 293 runs in 10 matches at a genuine strike rate of 136.92 and an average of 29.30.
- Gujarat Giants’ Shubman Gill has made 469 runs in 11 matches at a good strike rate of 143.43 and an average of 46.90.
- Chennai Super Kings’ Ruturaj Gaikwad has made 384 runs in 10 matches at a proper strike rate of 148.26 and an average of 42.67.
- Chennai Super Kings’ Devon Conway has made 458 runs in 10 matches at a genuine strike rate of 139.21 and an average of 57.25.
- Punjab Kings’ Shikhar Dhawan has made 349 runs in 8 matches at a genuine strike rate of 143.62 and an average of 58.17.
- Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Faf du Plessis has made 511 runs in 10 matches at a genuine strike rate of 157.72 and an average of 56.78.
It is clear from the information above that among the most genuine openers, including senior batter Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli has been the slowest than all but young Ishan Kishan, who has not been having a good season in IPL but still has near about 300 runs. This slowness of Virat Kohli is not new, but with the pace at the matches have gone forward, it is now turning into a bane than a boon for VK’s team. Talking about Kohli’s strike rate in the past few seasons, he has hardly managed to score above 140 only 3 times in 15 years.
Wrap lines:
Virat Kohli is one of the main pillars of his team. He might be going through a bad period. So, we expect Kohli to come out of his ‘slow’ zone and start hitting big runs soon.
