Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Virat Kohli was openly criticised through the course of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season and for the last few years in the format for his strike rate, especially in the middle overs and against spinners. While he did hit back at the criticism following a fabulous knock against Gujarat Titans earlier this season in Ahmedabad, where he scored 61 runs against tweakers at a strike rate of 179, he also allowed his bat to do the talking with his impressive 92 against Punjab Kings.
In that game against Punjab at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, Kohli smashed seven fours and six maximums. However, the striking feature of the knock was the use of slog sweep, which Kohli rarely executed during his illustrious cricket career so far.
Speaking to Star Sports on Sunday, ahead of RCB’s match against Delhi Capitals at the M Chinnaswamy, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan admitted that he was thoroughly impressed and inspired at Kohli’s willingness to keep improving on his game despite all the accolades he has achieved in world cricket. Pathan added that this quality in him made Kohli “one of the greatest players in the world.”
He said: “This is why I feel he is one of the greatest players in the world. After all these years, he is still trying to improve himself. He never played the sweep shot. People then started criticising him, saying that since he doesn’t play the sweep shot, spinners have the edge when they attack the stumps or the pad. So what Kohli did, was he went a step ahead to play the slog sweep and the normal sweep and improved his strike rate.”
Earlier on Sunday, IPL’s social media handle had shared a video of Kohli, where the former RCB batter spoke about evolving as a player with time in a format whose dynamics has constantly changed over the years and taking more risks.
“I’m certainly not the guy who wants to sit around saying this is the way I play and not improve on the things I need to. For me it’s still quality over quantity that’s something I’ve tried to replicate in every practice session that I go through. And some challenges such as improving your own game since it’s an ever-evolving process. Brought out the slog sweep to the spinners, something that I just mentally fit myself in that situation,” said Kohli.