RCB’s batting maestro, Virat Kohli, delivered a dazzling performance against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 45th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024). The clash, featuring Faf du Plessis’ squad against Shubman Gill’s team, unfolded at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, April 28th.
Virat Played A Match-Winning Knock Against Gujarat Titans
Kohli found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons following RCB’s recent encounter with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite contributing a crucial half-century to RCB’s victory, his innings of 51 runs off 43 balls, with a strike rate of 118.60, drew criticism for being too slow, particularly against spinners during IPL 2024.
Determined to silence his critics, Kohli responded emphatically in the match against GT. Teaming up with centurion Will Jacks, he guided RCB to a commanding 9-wicket triumph. Kohli notably accelerated his scoring rate and confidently took on the spinners, finishing with a stellar 70 runs off 44 balls, including 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Reflecting on the match, Kohli lauded Will Jacks for his outstanding century, acknowledging the pivotal role the English batter played in dismantling the GT bowling attack.
“Phenomenal, I mean when he initially came onto bat (on Jacks), he was a bit annoyed that he wasn’t able to strike the ball as cleanly as he wanted to, but the only conversation between us in the middle was to keep backing, keep committing because we know how explosive he can be. My role completely changed as soon as he got that big over off Mohit, for good, I was glad to be watching the game from the other end. I mean, I thought we could win the game in 19 overs, but to finish it in 16 overs was an outstanding effort. I think it was one of the better T20I hundreds one would ever see, I was just happy to watch it closely from the other end.”
Kohli also revealed that the wicket was good to bat on and it even got better in the second innings of the game. He said:
“The wicket was pretty good, I mean towards the later half of their innings, it started settling down and that was probably the reason why both teams wanted to bowl first., That was evident, the temperature went down, it got cooler and as the wicket settled down, the ball started to come nicely onto the bat. I was just having fun out there, hitting boundaries whenever needed. We never allowed the run-rate to go under 10 rpo at any point of the chase and to do that in the end what Jacks did.”
Virat Kohli Slammed His Critics Ahead Of T20I World Cup Squad Announcement
When questioned about his statistics, Virat Kohli fired back at his critics, asserting that he doesn’t dwell on numbers like strike rate and performance against spin. He emphasized his 15-year track record, stressing that his priority remains winning matches for the team above all else. He said:
“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.”
Virat Kohli concluded by expressing that they’ve committed to elevating their performance out of a sense of self-respect. He also divulged that the ambiance within the RCB dressing room is incredibly positive. He concluded:
“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.”
