Virat Kohli
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that while it is wrong to pinpoint Virat Kohli as the only match-winner in the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad, he opined that the skipper should take a cue from young T20 batters like Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan on how to improve batting strike rate in the format.
Since 2018, Kohli has a strike rate of 133.1 in T20 cricket which includes 121.4 in IPL 2020 and 113.8 in the only game he played this season. When asked if Kohli should play more responsibly for RCB to take the team over the line, Majrekar opined that the team comprises of five batters including AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell and Dan Christian.
"This tendency to focus on one player, Virat Kohli for instance in RCB, and that he should be the one to take the team over the line. I feel this is unfair because every player goes through ups and downs in his career. RCB also has other match-winners like Glenn Maxwell, who played well in the first match, and hence there should be pressure on him to deliver again and Dan Christian is also an experienced player. RCB team has five batsmen, not just Virat Kohli," said Majrekar during his exclusive chat with India TV Cricket.
Manjrekar however added that Kohli needs to change his T20 style of batting, while improving his strike rate, much like he showed in the recent T20I series against England where he scored 231 runs in 157 balls at 115.5 and a strike rate of 147.1 with three half-centuries.
"What I feel is that Kohli is in that phase of his career, as I mentioned the same about Rohit Sharma in the previous match, where batsmen like Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya are telling Kohli to improve his strike rate and batting style as per the requirements of T20 cricket. We have seen him do that against England in the recent series," he added.
Kohli will be in action against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
