Virat Kohli, captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), recently spoke about the importance of playing the anchor’s role in T20 cricket.
With discussions around the significance of strike rate in IPL 2023, Kohli explained that it is challenging for people to comprehend why batters tend to slow down after the completion of a strong powerplay in T20 matches.
Kohli approach criticised
Kohli’s approach was questioned by a few experts after his 44-ball 61 against Lucknow Super Giants earlier in the week. The RCB captain started the innings aggressively, scoring 42 off just 25 balls and taking the attack to the Lucknow bowlers.
However, he slowed down after the powerplay, taking his time against spinners Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi. Kohli took 10 balls to score from 42 to 50 before finishing with 61. Nonetheless, Kohli dominated a 96-run partnership with Faf du Plessis, who was content playing second fiddle.
After Kohli’s dismissal, du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell capitalized on the foundation laid by their captain and scored quickly against the LSG attack, posting 212 on the board. Du Plessis scored a blistering 79 off 46 balls, while Maxwell hit 59 off 29 balls.
Calculating approach after the powerplay
“Yeah for sure (important anchor role). I completely agree with that, There are many people who, because they have not been in that situation themselves, look at the game differently,” Kohli told Robin Uthappa in an interview for JioCinema.
“Suddenly when the powerplay is done, they will be like ‘oh, they have started rotating the strike’. When you haven’t lost a wicket in the powerplay, usually the best player comes on to bowl, you are trying to figure out what to do against him in the first two overs, so that you can get big ones in the last two overs of that guy and then rest of the innings become much easier,” he added.
One of the critics of Virat Kohli’s innings was Simon Doull, who pointed out that Kohli was playing for a personal milestone, his fifty, and that he slowed down when facing spinners.
