The former New Zealand cricketer, Simon Doull has criticized former Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli for his slow strike while approaching his half-century.
On April 10 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli assured a great start as the hosts were cruising past Lucknow Super Giants. As the home side hammered 56 runs in the powerplay, the duo played some superb cricketing strokes and put LSG bowlers to the cleaners.
For the most part, Virat Kohli was playing aggressive cricket while Faf was acting as an anchor, but that quickly altered as the field restriction was lifted.
Kohli scored 19 runs in his following 19 deliveries after scoring 42 runs in his first 25 deliveries. He finished with 61 runs off 44 deliveries, which disappointed veteran cricketer Simon Doull, who afterwards chastised Kohli for his poor strike rate.
Notably, RCB scored only 48 runs from the end of the powerplay until the 14th over of the match, which could be one of the causes for their humiliation at the hands of Lucknow, since the visiting club only required one run to win on the final delivery.
Meanwhile, Doull, a member of the commentary team, slammed Kohli and issued a lengthy statement claiming that the former RCB skipper slowed down because he was apprehensive about the impending milestone. He went on to say that such a game has no place in modern-day cricket.
Simon Doull on Virat Kohli while approaching the 50-run mark
“Kohli started off like a train; he was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots. From 42 to 50, he took ten balls. Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going, especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going,”
Doull said on commentary as quoted by Wisden.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time the 53-year-old has mentioned something similar. He had earlier criticised Pakistan captain Babar Azam for his strike rate, and the two later discussed it during the Pakistan Super League. Doull believed that Babar was more concerned with getting his century than with putting the team first.
Meanwhile, following their second consecutive defeat, RCB have dropped to seventh on the IPL Points Table, and things are not looking good for the Faf du Plessis-led team.
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