Virat Kohli played a terrific knock against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad to help his team win their second consecutive game in IPL 2024.
Virat Kohli played a terrific knock against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad to help his team win their second consecutive game in IPL 2024. He accumulated 70 runs in 44 deliveries, including six boundaries and three maximums, striking at 159.09.
A vital aspect of his batting was his positive approach against three world-class spinners – Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad – in the powerplay and middle overs. Kohli scored 61 runs at a strike rate of 179.41, hitting a boundary every 4.25 deliveries against tweakers, allowing Will Jacks to settle in before unleashing carnage.
His scoring rate against spinners was a vital talking point before this rubber, and three GT spinners were seen as a massive threat to Kohli in this game. However, the legendary batter easily negated this threat and showed encouraging signs ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Also Read: WATCH: Virat Kohli celebrates Shahrukh Khan’s wicket with a rude send-off
Kohli picked the lengths quickly and went ahead with his shots wholeheartedly, helping him to find boundaries consistently. Clearly, he has worked on his boundary shots against spinners and backed himself to play them against a skilled spin attack.
Following his match-winning knock, Virat Kohli made a bizarre statement while talking to official broadcasters. He stated that people criticising his strike rate against spin have never faced such situations and talking from the box is easy.
“All people who talk about strike rates, and me not playing spin well have never been in the situation themselves. For me, it’s about winning matches and doing my job. It’s easy to talk about it from the box, but you have to be in the situation to know what it takes.”
Kohli’s statement caught the immediate attention of fans, with most of them finding it rude. The reactions around his statement are aplenty, and we have curated the best ones in this segment.
Here are some reactions:
Another day of cricket fans being asked to shut up because they have never played international cricket. Tell us if all you want us to do is make reels, fill the stadiums and cheer and never try to have actual cricket conversations.
— Manya (@CSKian716) April 28, 2024
Message from Kohli telling his fans not to make assumptions on the game and criticize other players like Rohit and Hardik. 15 years is the benchmark. If you haven’t played for 15 years, don’t talk about what cricketers like Rohit and others should be doing. Such a gem this guy. pic.twitter.com/Gi8W2A8X1R
— cricBC (@cricBC) April 28, 2024
“Kohli bodied haters”
This is the main narrative why honest opinions about any star player are unacceptable to the Indian audience. Rohit, Virat, anyone.
Kohli himself worked on his flaw and his strike rate 230 against spin is the proof.
No wonder why we don’t win anything.
— Anuj Nitin Prabhu (@APTalksCricket) April 28, 2024
Love how a specific, long-standing criticism of a player is invalid because a guy played one innings where he acted on that criticism and changed his game.
— Karthik Krishnaswamy (@the_kk) April 28, 2024
First I saw Virat Kohli bat was the winters of 2007, in the nets adjacent to Kotla’s west stand. From then to now.. this is the most un-Kohli thing I have heard Kohli say. Most insecure statement he’s made. And that’s something coming from the most secure cricketer I’ve seen.
— KASHISH (@crickashish217) April 28, 2024
Quite a statement to make! But will never be a fan of cricketers implying that people on the outside know nothing, and have no right to comment on the game. #ViratKohli https://t.co/FVSP5wOuHo
— Vishesh Roy (@vroy38) April 28, 2024
Trash statement by Virat Kohli going by this logic all political analysts who have not contested in elections should never do the analysis on the elections.
— Mustafa (@Mustafasays__) April 28, 2024
Virat Kohli firing a salvo against people who criticise his strike rate against spin.
Just because he plays for 15 years, doesn’t mean that people not playing cannot criticize him.
I just found it kiddish for a player of his level to find this criticism hurting #Kohli
— Kartik Kannan (@kartik_kannan) April 28, 2024
Totally unnecessary, he talks about “making the team win”, I don’t really see his team at the top of that points table, this dialoguebaazi is fine for the fanboys & fangirls, perfect for cheap reels, but doesn’t really make sense in Cricketing terms! https://t.co/9NqtHudCmM
— Nish Navalkar (@YUVI_NISH) April 28, 2024
Didn’t listen to Kohli post match, if he is angry abt criticism around SR, may be he should grow up. His last inn was terrible, he slows down post PP is a fact. Glad he has made correction, but the criticism was valid for the most part.
— Srinivas R (@srini_r_twit) April 28, 2024
Virat Kohli might have given this statement out of frustration after his ample criticism in the previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). It’s nice to see Kohli working on his weaknesses and becoming a better version of himself in an ever-revolving format.
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