IPL 2023: The start of the IPL 2023 season has been good for Virat Kohli personally and he has scored 4 half-centuries in 6 innings. Despite this, his batting is under question as his strike rate is continuously decreasing after powerplay.
Image Credit source: BCCI
New Delhi: 264 runs in 6 innings and 4 half-centuries. Royal Challengers Bangalore K star batsman Virat Kohli’s performance in IPL 2023 so far is something like this. The strike rate is also of 141. These 4 half-centuries also include an inning of 59 runs played against Punjab Kings on Thursday. At a glance, it looks fine, but even after this, Virat Kohli is in the circle of questions. Especially the innings played against Punjab was surprising.
This season was started by Virat Kohli with a tremendous innings. Kohli won the team by scoring an unbeaten 82 against Mumbai Indians. After that innings, hopes were raised that Kohli would continue in this season. After 4 half-centuries in the first 6 matches, it looks correct but his batting pattern is not only becoming a cause of concern for RCB but also raising questions on his approach.
Also read: Why did Virat Kohli start abusing in the middle of the match?
jump start again
Kohli scored 59 runs in Mohali on Thursday and shared a 137-run partnership for the first wicket with Faf Duplesey. The whole reality comes to the fore after examining this innings. In every big innings that Kohli has played this season, opening for Bangalore, he has started fast in the powerplay, but after that his pace has been falling continuously.
The same condition was seen against Punjab as well. Kohli hit 29 runs in just 19 balls in the powerplay, which included 4 fours. That means a strike rate of more than 150.
FIFTY & going strong ????@imVkohli smacks yet another half-century ????????
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21 runs in 21 balls
As soon as the powerplay was over, Kohli’s speed fell such that his strike rate reached 119. Kohli completed his half-century in the 14th over with a four, but this fifty came in 40 balls. That is, after the powerplay, Kohli faced 21 balls in the next 8 overs and only 21 runs came off his bat in these 21 balls. Before this four, Kohli had scored the last boundary in the fifth over.
Harpreet Brar strikes twice
He gets Virat Kohli & Glenn Maxwell back to back!
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Loss from Virat’s innings?
Kohli was dismissed on the first ball of the 17th over and this was Bangalore’s first wicket. Kohli faced 47 balls and scored only 59 runs. That means a strike rate of 125. In comparison, Faf Duplesey, playing as an impact player, hit Fifty in 31 balls and finally scored 84 runs (56 balls). The effect of Kohli’s slow batting was that Bangalore could score only 174 runs. Kohli was captaining Bangalore in this match, but this innings put him in the circle of questions.
Also read: Virat Kohli’s records with runs with the bat