Aakash Chopra sees Virat Kohli winning the Orange cap this season. Royal Challengers Bangalore are in a strong position after decimating Mumbai Indians in their first game of the season. Thus, RCB will be looking to finally end their drought and win their first IPL championship in 2023.
Yet, just as they did in the first meeting, the older players will have to rise up time and again. Importantly, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis were outstanding as RCB chased down 172 runs in 16.2 overs against MI.
Kohli scored 82* runs off 49 deliveries, & former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes he will compete for the Orange Cap this year. Meanwhile, Chopra referred to du Plessis as a “aggressor” and praised him for his outstanding performance.
Aakash Chopra sees similarity in Virat of this season and Virat of 2016
“From Virat Kohli’s knock, it seems he will remain in the Orange Cap race this year. There is some similarity between 2016 and this season. He was in sublime form for six months at the international level ahead of IPL 2016. Now also he is close to that sublime form at the international level.”
The veteran Indian cricketer further added saying,
“Faf du Plessis was the aggressor. He went fast at the start and then Virat Kohli caught up. When you are chasing and especially if it is the Chinnaswamy ground, one plus one is not two, but it becomes 11 when two openers play like that,”
Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
At the moment Kohli sits 4th in the Orange cap table with CSK’s Ruturaj Gaikwad leading the chart with 149 runs in 2 games.
According to Chopra, Rohit Sharma and Tim David will need to score runs in the following matches if the squad is to do well in the competition. The 45-year-old also praised youngster Tilak Verma for his outstanding hitting against RCB and stated that MI have a lot to think about right now.
“Mumbai were asked to bat first but they couldn’t bat. What a spell from Siraj. Ishan Kishan got out and Rohit Sharma should have also been out. Cameron Green was dismissed by Reece Topley. Tilak Varma has the might. The way he played when Mumbai were struggling was absolutely thumbs up.”
“Mumbai have once again lost the first match and they have got plenty to ponder. If they don’t bat well, if Rohit and Tim David don’t score runs, this team will be seen struggling. Suryakumar Yadav was slightly unfortunate, the cut shot went straight to the hands, but he did get out,”
the cricketer-turned-commentator added.
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