Not happy with his approach, Gavaskar reckoned Kohli should have taken more risks during his stay in the middle.

Hyderabad: Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Virat Kohli faced the heat from all quarters over his strike rate against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday in an IPL 2024 match. Kohli hit a 51 off 43 balls, which is slow according the new standards in T20 cricket and that is exactly what former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar pointed out. Not happy with his approach, Gavaskar reckoned Kohli should have taken more risks during his stay in the middle.

“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,” he added.

RCB defeated SRH by 35 runs.

Opting to bat, RCB rode on Kohli’s fifty, a quickfire 20-ball 50 from Rajat Patidar and Cameron Green’s 20-ball 37 not out to post 206 for seven in their 20 overs. In reply, SRH were restricted to 171 for 8. Shahbaz Ahmed (40 not out), opener Abhishek Sharma (31) and Pat Cummins (31) tried their best for SRH. Swapnil Singh (2/40), Karn Sharma (2/29) and Cameron Green (2/12) claimed two wickets each for RCB.