Virat Kohli scored 61 runs in 44 balls against Lucknow Super Giants.
Virat Kohli played a decent knock of 61 runs off 44 deliveries, with the help of four boundaries and as many maximums. It was his second half-century in three matches this season. His rapid start helped Royal Challengers Bangalore cross the 50-run mark in the powerplay.
While Virat Kohli capitalized on the field restrictions, his scoring rate went downhill post the first six overs. The former India and RCB captain, who made 42 runs at a 168 strike rate in the powerplay, took as many as ten deliveries to complete the fifty. His milestone-driven approach didn’t impress on-air commentator Simon Doull one bit.
Simon Doull criticised Virat Kohli, who slowed down near his fifty against LSG. According to the veteran commentator, Kohli slowed down deliberately to complete his fifty.
he had scored 42 off 25 deliveries, and then took 10 deliveries to reach his half century, Rather than putting the team first, Rather than looking for boundaries, still so much firepower to come. Fifty are brilliant, stats are great, but it has to be team first
~Doull on kohli pic.twitter.com/R0X31PLP3A
— Ashok Choudhary (@cricvizanalys) April 10, 2023
“Kohli started off like a train. He was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots. From 42 to 50, he took 10 balls,” exclaimed the former Kiwi pacer. “Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going, especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going,” Doull added.
The New Zealander made a valid point. Kohli did slow down to achieve his personal milestone despite being in fine touch. After the powerplay, the Delhi born made 19 runs in as many balls at a strike rate of a mere 100. He could also manage to hit only one boundary, in the form of a six off Krunal Pandya, before getting dismissed in the 12th over. Simon might receive a lot of flak for criticising the biggest cricketing personality from India, but he only spat facts.
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Earlier, Simon Doull was the point of attention when he called out Babar Azam’s approach in the recently-concluded PSL. The topic was the exactly same back then as well.
Nonetheless, Virat Kohli played some elegant shots while constructing his 46th IPL fifty. When on the song, few batters are as eye-pleasing as Virat Kohli. The crowd got a lot to cheer about against LSG, but their favourite player’s knock got the loudest cheer, and rightly so.
