Sunil Gavaskar Lambasts Virat Kohli for his response to strike rate criticism ahead of the RCB vs GT IPL 2024 Clash (VIDEO)

Former Indian batting legend turned cricket commentator Sunil Gavaskar gave a strong response to Virat Kohli’s response to the critics over his strike rate after the IPL 2024 clash between Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Ahmedabad on April 28.

Kohli’s performance came under scrutiny when he scored 51 off 43 balls at a strike rate of 118.60 in the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Uppal Stadium on April 25. However, the 35-year-old managed to silence his critics as he scored an unbeaten run. -winning knock of 70 off 44 balls at a strike rate of 159.09 while chasing the target of 201 runs against Gujarat Titans.

After his impressive innings against GT, commentator asked Virat Kohli about his strike rate after the powerplay (1-6 overs) and against spin. Replying to the question, the RCB batsman stated that people are not qualified enough to talk about his strike rate if they were not in that situation themselves.

Sunil Gavaskar is unhappy with Kohli’s response to critics

Ahead of the IPL 2024 clash between RCB and GT, Sunil Gavaskar was disappointed with Virat Kohli’s response to criticism of his strike rate. The former Indian batting legend slammed the RCB batsman for constantly reacting to outside noise despite saying he didn’t care. He added that commentators have no agendas against any player as they only speak about what is happening in front of them.

“You talk about all these guys and they say, ‘Oh, we don’t care about outside noise.’ Then why do you react to outside noises or whatever? Gavaskar said during a pre-match show on Star Sports.

“We all played a little bit of cricket, not a lot. We (commentators) have no agendas. We talk about what we see. We don’t necessarily have likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we talk about what is happening.” he added.

In the ongoing IPL season, Virat Kohli’s slow innings has become a topic of discussion as much of cricket questioned his intentions behind his approach. Kohli’s inclusion in the Indian squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup received mixed reactions due to his delay in his innings after the powerplay.

Virat Kohli regains his orange cap after 42-run innings against GT

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli had a decent outing with the bat as he scored 42 off 27 balls during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 148-run chase against Gujarat Titans at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Kohli formed a 92-run partnership with Faf du Plessis for the opening wicket until the RCB skipper was dismissed for 64. After that, RCB suffered a collapse in their batting as they lost four wickets in Will Jacks (1), Rajat Patidar (2), Glenn Maxwell (4) and Cameron Green (1) for 19 runs and hosts were 111/5 in 9.5 overs.

Virat Kohli’s innings came to an end after he was dismissed by Noor Ahmed at 117/6. Thereafter, Dinesh Karthik (21*) and Swapnil Singh (15*) formed a crucial unbeaten partnership of 35 runs for the seventh wicket to chase down the target.

Kohli dethroned Ruturaj Gaikwad in the Orange Cap race as he is currently the leading run-scorer of the season, with 542 runs, including a century and four fifties, with an average of 67.75 and a strike rate of 148.09 in 11 matches.

Published: Sunday May 5, 2024 07:49 IST