Watch: En route to a third fifty of IPL 2023, RCB captain Virat Kohli struck two glorious cover drives off the bowling of South Africa’s Anrich Nortje today (April 15).
Kohli has had an excellent individual start to IPL 2023, with three half-centuries in four innings seeing him second in the top run scorers list behind only Shikhar Dhawan.
Against Delhi Capitals, he made 50 off 34 before splicing a thigh high full toss to the fielder on the boundary to bring to a close a promising innings.
The highlight of his fifty runs, however, came in consecutive deliveries off the bowling of Proteas quick Nortje, as Kohli powered two fantastic drives through the cover region in near identical fashion.
The two balls were the second and third of both Kohli and RCB’s innings, as the former India captain made the most of the powerplay’s fielding restrictions and blasted the ball through a packed infield and away to the boundary. The first four was slightly fuller in length and met with a more conventional cover drive, whilst the second, Kohli backed away ever so slightly to give himself room and carve the delivery to the boundary once more.
It hasn’t all been roses for Kohli, however, with criticisms coming from Kiwi commentator Simon Doull regarding Kohli’s strike-rate. In particular, when Kohli’s scoring rate slowed as he approached a half-century against Lucknow Super Giants.
“Kohli started off like a train,” Doull said. “He was going hammer and tongs as he was playing a lot of shots. From 42 to 50, he took 10 balls. Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. Just got to keep going, especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You got to keep going.”
Kohli has responded to the criticism, saying that he is “not thinking about strike-rate” and that if the situation demands he can up his scoring accordingly.
