Virat Kohli lashes out at his strike rate critics after RCB's big win over GT in IPL 2024

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) star batter Virat Kohli on Sunday (April 28) lashed out at his critics after the team’s easy victory over Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad in an IPL 2024 game.

After scoring a 44-ball 70 not out and sharing an unbroken partnership of 166 runs with Will Jacks (100 not out off 41), Kohli was in no mood to spare his critics who have targeted him for his strike rate in IPL 2024.

RCB chased down 201 in 16 overs, scoring 206/1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium to keep their playoff hopes alive.

What Kohli said

Kohli on Sunday completed 500 runs in 10 innings and is the holder of the Orange Cap. However, there have been questions over his strike rate.

After RCB’s nine-wicket win over GT, Kohli spoke to the host broadcaster Star Sports and when former India spinner-turned-commentator Murali Karthik asked him about his run-scoring numbers in IPL, Kohli slammed his critics for making “assumptions”.

Kohli’s response comes ahead of India's squad selection for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 in the US and the Caribbean islands.

Kartik asked Kohli, “More than 400 ten times, do you look at these numbers ever?” He was referring to Kohli scoring more than 400 runs in 10 IPL editions.

Kohli replied, “Not really, I think all the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well are the ones who love talking about this stuff. But, for me, it’s about winning the game for the team. And there is a reason you have done this for 15 years.”

He continued, “You have done this, day in and day out. You have won games for your team. And I am not quite sure if you have not been in that situation yourself, to sit and speak about the game from a box.

“I don’t think it’s the same thing. For me, it’s about doing the job for the team. People can sit and talk about their own ideas and assumptions of the game. But those who have done it, day in and day out, they know what they are doing. It's kind of muscle memory for me now.”

Kohli praises Jacks

Kohli also praised Jacks, hailing his knock as “phenomenal”.

“Initially when he (Jacks) came to bat, he was annoyed that he wasn’t able to strike the ball as he wanted to. The only talk was to, for him to stay calm, we know how explosive he can be when he gets going. The over from Mohit (Sharma) was the game changer, I was just happy to stay around and watch him go. I thought we would win in 19 overs, but to do it in 16 was absolutely brilliant,” Kohli said.

He also said that RCB want to play for their fans. "We wanted to play more for our self-respect, we want to play for the fans who have backed us, we know we haven't played up to the standards required (so far in the tournament), we know we can do a lot more better and it's something which we'll try and do.”

This was RCB’s third win in 10 matches and still stay at the bottom of the IPL 2024 points table.