'Easy to talk from the box' - Virat Kohli lashes out at critics after match-winning knock against Gujarat Titans

Kohli once again played a blinder of a knock to help RCB win. 
 By Chandra Moulee Das Updated: Apr 28, 2024, 20:54 IST
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Star India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli responded to the ongoing criticisms surrounding his strike rate in the shortest format of the game after their win against the Gujarat Titans in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IP 2024) earlier today. 

Kohli once again played a blinder of a knock to help RCB win as he continues to be the leading scorer in IPL 2024 and holds the Orange Cap. 

However, Kohli also registered the record for the joint-slowest ton in IPL history earlier this season. 

During their last match against SRH, Kohli hit another fifty but his strike rate was 118.60, which attracted further criticism.

Speaking on the sidelines of RCB's win at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli was quizzed by Murali Karthik whether he keeps track of the numbers. In reply, the batting superstar said his job is to only win games for his team. 

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Virat Kohli lashes out at critics

"Not really, all the people who talk about strike-rates and me not playing spin well are the ones talking about this stuff. For me, it's about winning the games for the team and there's a reason why you've done it for 15 years, you've done this day in and day out, you've won games for your teams, I'm not quite sure that if you haven't been in that situation yourself, to sit and talk about the game in the box. For me, people can talk about their assumptions day in and day out, but those who have done day in and day out, they know what's happening and it's a kind of muscle memory for me now," Kohli said after the match.

Interestingly, Kohli was almost striking at a rate of 180 against GT's spin trio of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and R Sai Kishore. 

"We wanted to step up for ourselves, play for our self respect. We can't be playing the way we played in the first half of the tournament, we wanted to see the ball as well, we are attacking way more, the fielders are putting their bodies on the line, that's the way we want to play. We haven't been up to standards so far except the last two games, but we just want to continue the same way, we have a great atmosphere in the dressing room. We want to play for ourselves, have some self respect as to why we're playing at this level and also for the fans who've been supporting us," the star India batter added.

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