Fresh twist in Virat Kohli’s strike-rate saga as ‘agenda’-driven attempts made to hog ‘limelight’ ahead of T20 World Cup | Cricket

The debate around Virat Kohli’s T20 strike rate has once again taken centerstage in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League. Kohli is currently leading the Orange Cap race in IPL 2024 with 316 runs in 5 matches at a strike rate of 146.29, but despite scoring the first centurion of the season, the knock came under scrutiny. Why? Because Kohli’s 67-ball ton against Rajasthan Royals was the joint-slowest in the tournament history and one that came in a losing cause.

The batting maestro remained unbeaten on 113 off 72 balls but his team Royal Challengers Bengaluru failed to even cross 200, and eventually lost the match by six wickets. Kohli finished with a strike rate of 156.94, not getting much support from the other end, especially in the slog overs.

Several former cricketers and critics have questioned Kohli’s intent and under-par strike rate this season, but his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has quashed them all and come out in support of the RCB superstar. Rajkumar posted a video on his Instagram account of a TV debate he took part in and extended his support to Kohli. “Agenda as they call it, he knows how and when to perform,” he captioned the video.

In the video, Rajkumar stated that the critics should also look at the situation of the match before taking shots at the RCB batter, making a bold comment that those pointing fingers at Kohli want to get into the limelight.

“Those who have been saying that it was a slow century should realize the situation of the match, the score, and his strike rate. They know that if they talk about Virat Kohli, they will get the limelight, and their news will become popular,” Rajkumar said on India News.

Rajkumar slams critics

The 58-year-old didn’t stop there and slammed Kohli’s critics for not having any knowledge of the game.

“I have sent you Virat’s stats. You should see his strike rate and the percentage of runs in knockout matches for India at T20 World Cups. They don’t have any knowledge of cricket. Don’t even know the ‘C’ of cricket. Wickets kept falling at the other end, but still, he continued scoring at a strike rate of around 135.”

All the unwanted attention towards Kohli also stems from the fact that RCB have hit a rough patch, losing four of their five matches to be currently placed ninth on the points table.