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Former India skipper Virat Kohli after a couple of decent hits in the IPL 2024 opener against the Chennai Super Kings, came back to his usual hitting form as he led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to their first win with a quickfire yet controlled and calculated knock against the Punjab Kings on Monday, March 25 in their first home game of the season. However, it was not just with the bat, Kohli with his words in the post-match presentation was on fire too knowing too well about the conversations going around regarding him and his place in the shortest format.
When the commentator and presenter Harsha Bhogle asked Kohli about his lofted drive over the covers and not just sticking to the one through the grass, Kohli said, “I mean you have to. They know, I play the cover drive pretty well so they are not going to allow me to hit gaps and with guys like KG [Kagiso Rabada] and Arshdeep [Singh] as well, he’s tall, so if they are hitting length you have to create momentum on the ball. Once you’re closer to the ball, you kind of negate the bounce that’s going to happen, you meet it earlier.”
In the same conversation, Kohli quickly took a dig at the ones who doubted his ability in the format even for once. “You have to come up with a game plan here or there and try to keep improving your game. I know my name is nowadays quite attached to just promoting the game in many parts of the world when it comes to T20 cricket. But still got it, I guess!”
Bhogle then responded by saying “I think you do” and repeated it once again just for effect. Bhogle ended the presentation by saying that the RCB fans would love to see the orange cap stay on Kohli’s head, which he got on Monday after the 77-run knock but the 35-year-old was quick to say that the orange caps, stats and numbers don’t matter much to him anymore. What matters to him more at this stage of his career is the memories he makes with his teammates and the contributions he makes to help his team win games of cricket, as per Kohli.
This almost felt like a retort from Kohli to the reports of him not being in India’s plan for the T20 World Cup or the commentators like Kevin Pietersen suggesting the Men in Blue to pick the batting superstar just to promote the game in a country like the United States where cricket is not the most-followed sport.
Kohli may have gotten out at a wrong time for RCB with 47 runs still needed. However, RCB’s batting depth owing to perfect utilisation of the impact player came to the fore with Mahipal Lomror coming in at No 6, who hit a first-ball boundary and a six in the 19th over while the 38-year-old Dinesh Karthik was cool as a cucumber in finishing off the game for his side
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