Former Indian cricket team batter Aakash Chopra took a cheeky dig at Royal Challengers Bangalore with an interesting anecdote involving Virat Kohli’s knock against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL 2024 match on Friday. Kohli scored his second consecutive half-century of the competition but it was not enough as the RCB bowling attack faltered under pressure against the explosive batting of Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer. Chopra pointed out that while Kohli took 59 deliveries to score 83, KKR were off to a stunning start in the powerplay and ended up scoring 83 runs in 5.5 overs.
“When Sunil Narine opens, the template is absolutely clear – ‘Either I or you will not remain’. He plays in that fashion, tries to hit sixes. Everyone knows that you need to repeatedly bowl bouncers and yorkers, but if you don’t get success in that, just like Bengaluru didn’t get in the first six overs, he takes the match far away from your grasp,” he said during his analysis on YouTube.
“Phil Salt was also there with him. Phil Salt hit 18 runs in the first over itself. He was brilliant. Just to put things in context, the opposing team bowled well but Kohli played 59 balls to reach 83 and Kolkata had already scored 85 in 5.5 overs. Whether it was Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Siraj or Yash Dayal, everyone was hit a lot,” the former India cricketer added.
Chopra was also all praise for KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir whom he credited for moves like sending Narine to open the batting and using Andre Russell as a death-over bowler.
“I feel Gautam has given them a lot of confidence. Sunil Narine opening has Gautam Gambhir’s imprint. Andre Russell bowling at the death also has a little imprint of Gautam Gambhir. He is empowering them slightly and the same can be said about Venkatesh Iyer. He has been empowered to hit fours and sixes,” Chopra explained.
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