Sunil Gavaskar Defends Virat Kohli Amidst Trolls For His Knock Against KKR – RCB and KKR went head-to-head in match number 10 of IPL 2024 in Bengaluru. Shreyas Iyer decided to field first after winning the toss on a slow pitch. Virat Kohli was absolutely sensational, delivering a remarkable performance by scoring 83 runs off just 49 balls. He continued his exceptional form from the previous game against Punjab Kings. Cameron Green had a solid knock, scoring 33 runs off just 21 balls. Dinesh Karthik, on the other hand, played a quick innings and added 20 runs off only 8 balls to give the team a strong finish. The RCB batters struggled to find their rhythm on a sluggish and parched wicket. The KKR bowlers cleverly utilised slower balls to their advantage, making the most of the conditions. The RCB batters had a tough time finding their rhythm, yet they were able to put up a respectable total of 182 runs in their 20 overs.
The KKR openers, Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, started off the innings in an explosive manner. Salt managed to score 30 runs off just 20 balls, while Narine was even more impressive with 47 runs off only 22 balls. KKR quickly reached 86 runs in a mere 6.3 overs. Venkatesh Iyer had a solid performance, scoring 50 runs off 30 balls. Meanwhile, captain Shreyas Iyer played a crucial role in leading KKR to victory, contributing 39 runs off 24 balls. KKR emerged victorious against RCB, securing a 7-wicket win and maintaining a perfect record with two wins in two matches.
Sunil Gavaskar Defends Virat Kohli Amidst Trolls For His Knock Against KKR
KKR has achieved a remarkable feat by emerging as the first team to secure a victory on foreign soil in the ongoing IPL 2024 season. In addition, they have managed to continue their impressive winning streak in Bengaluru. It’s pretty impressive that they haven’t lost against RCB in Bengaluru since 2015. The target of 182 seemed promising at one point, considering the sluggishness of the pitch. Surprisingly, the KKR batters silenced all the doubters within the first six overs. Sunil Narine had a fantastic start, taking on the RCB bowlers in the powerplay and giving KKR a significant advantage. KKR emerged victorious with a commanding performance against RCB.
Now, fans have been criticising Virat Kohli for his inning against KKR. He scored 83 runs off 59 balls with a strike rate of 140.68. He was finding it very tough to accelerate at the end and also increase his strike rate. Fans have questioned whether Kohli after playing 10 overs and being right from the start to the end should have scored his century in these many number of deliveries. This would have enabled RCB to atleast go above the 200 runs mark.
Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar defended Virat Kohli amid all these criticisms. He said that when wickets were tumbling at the other end, Kohli did not have the choice to accelerate. He could have scored 120 runs in those many balls if he had received support from the other end.
Sunil Gavaskar said – “You tell me how much Virat Kohli will do alone. Someone should accompany him. If someone had supported him today, he would definitely have scored 120 instead of 83 runs. So this is team sport not a single man game. He didn’t get any support today”.