‘Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are slightly beyond numbers’: Ex-IND opener sends strong message to selectors
India’s captain Rohit Sharma (L) and teammate Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli silenced his critics with an impactful 70-run* knock against Gujarat Titans on Sunday. The star batter faced scrutiny for his strike rate against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he scored 43-ball 51, but he played with an aggressive intent versus the Titans. He didn’t shy away from taking on the spinners in the middle overs.
The 35-year-old slammed six fours and three sixes during his 44-ball knock at a strike rate of 159.09.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra was highly impressed with Kohli’s intent at Narendra Modi Stadium.
“We got to see Kohli’s Virat avatar. He played both spin and fast bowling very well. He is trying to dominate spin this year and also hitting lofted shots extremely well in the powerplay,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
He also asserted that senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are beyond numbers as they bring a lot more things to the table when they are batting in the middle.
“If we talk about players like Virat and Rohit Sharma, these players are slightly beyond numbers,” he said.
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Meanwhile, the former opener also pointed out that Kohli’s aggressive approach also helped Will Jacks who looked a bit scratchy at the start but then just blew away the Titans bowlers.
“However, Virat is consistently trying to run slightly faster this time. The sixes he hit off Noor Ahmed’s bowling while kneeling, he batted extremely well. He was there and then came a storm named Will Jacks. It seemed for a long time that Virat Kohli was shielding him,” Chopra observed.
It was a second straight win for RCB, but their chances of making the playoffs are still hanging by a thread as they are still languishing at the bottom of the table with only three wins in 10 matches.
On Sunday, Kohli employed the sweep shot against the spinners to make a statement before Jacks (100 not out off 41) cut loose to gun down the 201-run target. Jacks went berserk in what turned out to be the final over of the game, hammering as many as four sixes and four off Rashid Khan to close out the game much sooner than expected.
“I even tweeted ‘Will Jacks to be dismissed soon’. He read it and then the way he smashed, he destroyed Mohit Sharma in one over. He was continuously bowling back-of-the-hand slower ones and Will Jacks was hitting sixes. Then he hit Rashid Khan for 29 runs in an over. It was his most expensive over to date,” Chopra elaborated.
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