‘Just singles, singles and singles’: Gavaskar not happy with Kohli's middle-over slowdown

Win or lose. Virat Kohli is always in the news. As Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday ended a six-game losing streak to return to winning ways in the IPL 2024, Kohli's knock of 51 from 43 balls held a lot of significance, but at the same time, it couldn't escape its fair share of criticism. Kohli's 'slow' innings was all social media could talk about last evening - well, at least during the first half of the game. The manner in which the former RCB captain dropped pace after the Powerplay left many, including Sunil Gavaskar, unimpressed.

The legendary Gavaskar, always one of the firsts to lend his support to Kohli, was left surprised seeing Virat de-accelerate after a brisk start. Kohli blasted away to 32 off his first 18 balls as RCB scored at a fair clip inside the Powerplay to reach 61/1. Kohli scorched four boundaries and a six to show his intent but once the field spread out and Rajat Patidar took over, Virat slowed down dramatically, scoring just 19 off his next 25 balls. This left Gavaskar visibly upset as the legendary India cricketer couldn't help but show his frustration on air.

"It's just been singles, singles and singles from Kohli. There is [Dinesh] Karthik to come; there is [Mahipal] Lomror to come. You've got to try and take a few risks now. Look at Patidar. He had already hit three sixes in that over. If he wanted, he could have taken a single or left the ball for a wide. But no, he went for it because the opportunity was there," Gavaskar said while doing commentary on air.

"That's the approach RCB now need. Yes, Kohli has played and missed; it's not easy, because when you've been in your shell, you've just been working the ones, suddenly to connect is not going to be easy. But that is what Kohli needs to do; needs to attempt. He has got to attempt the big shots now."

Kohli reached his fifty off 37 balls, while his partner Patidar, as Gavaskar touched upon, took just 19 balls to get his. It was his third fifty of the IPL 2024 – all coming at brisk pace. Kohli's 51 was special in some regards as well as he completed four consecutive IPL half-centuries in Hyderabad, but that he went without a boundary for nine overs, and RCB for four, raises huge concerns. He was eventually dismissed by Jaydev Unadkat, who playing his 100th IPL game, took 3/30.

Thankfully, Cameron Green's 37 off 20, along with Patidar's blazing innings – which saw him smoke Mayank Markande for four sixes in an over – set the platform for RCB to score 206/7, a total that proved to be big enough as Sunrisers Hyderabad were kept to 171/8, going down by 35 runs. Otherwise, the way Kohli was ambling, the team could have really struggled, pointed out Gavaskar.

"In the middle, he just seemed to have lost touch. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but I think from 31-32 to the time he got out, he did not hit a boundary. So at the end of the day, when he got out when you are facing the strike in the first ball of the innings and you get out in the 14th or the 15th over, you have got strike rate of 118, that's not what your team expects from you," Gavaskar added.