CHENNAI: Virat Kohli was livid with himself. In an attempt to go for his third consecutive boundary off Matheesha Pathirana, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter had failed to time it and ended up strolling for a single at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday night.
So, he expressed his frustration by slamming his bat on the pads as he reached the non-striker's end. Up on the scoreboard, it read RCB 104/2 in 10.4 overs.
In Isolation, it might not read as bad on a black soil surface which was perhaps on the slower side than the one that was used for the Mumbai Indians clash. But one look a little adjacent to the team total, it read: Kohli 27* (26).
On a night where every other RCB batter was going at over 160 strike rate, Kohli was struggling to get to run-a-ball. Three balls before that single against Pathirana, it looked worse. Kohli was 16 off 23. It had been that kind of a night for the RCB opener.
But this is not a new phenomenon. The thing with Kohli is that his strengths and weaknesses are well known and so is his batting template. He takes on pacers and negates spinners on a good day. Against Kolkata Knight Riders, Kohli had smashed an unbeaten 59 off 36 balls at 163.88 SR in a match-winning chase. During that knock, he faced 20 balls of spin and scored 24 runs including a four and a six. That was a good day on a better batting track.
Kohli takes on pacers and struggles against spinners on a bad day. Friday was worse. CSK pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Sam Curran were taking the pace of the ball consistently. It contributed to Kohli barely middling a delivery in the powerplay. His tentative nature against spin and the growing frustration meant he was going harder than needed, resulting in a below-par stint.
Off the 15 balls he faced from pacers, Kohli took five singles, six dots, one four, one six and one double and a leg bye — 17 off 15 balls. And this was a positive match-up. He charged at, shuffled, reached with his arms, tried everything, maybe even a tad too much, but with little success. Against spinners, he had made 14 off as many balls but not once did he look convincing. So much that he had to even bring out the sweep shot. It was also the shot that ended up bringing his dismissal against Noor Ahmed on the 15th ball he faced from a spinner. 31 runs from 30 balls on a surface where his team posted 196/7. If not for the pull and the flick off consecutive deliveries against Pathirana — it brought ten runs in two balls — it would have looked so much worse.
Again, this is not a new thing. Kohli has batted like this at least for the better part of the past decade, perhaps with the exception of 2024. From batting at a strike rate of 113.46 against spin in 2023, Kohli took it to 137.08 in 2024 — a season where he was determined to make a mark in the lead up to the T20 World Cup. Such was the difference in show that it took his career IPL SR against spin to 122.5 after having batted at less than 110 SR in the three years before 2023 (2020; 108.91, 2021; 100, 2022; 108.08).
However, technical flaws and batting templates don’t change overnight. Not when a player is in the November of their career. Even during the recent Champions Trophy triumph where Kohli scored 218 runs, he managed 114 runs against spin in 155 balls at a strike rate of 73.54. That he was successful in winning matches for India is testament to two things — his mastery in innings construction and understanding of the ODI format; and he had other batters like Shreyas Iyer who took pressure off him when spinners came on. That is exactly what RCB did on Friday as well. Let Kohli do his thing while others go after bowlers based on their strengths.
On any other day, with any other batting line-up, Kohli’s 31 off 30 could have cost them the match. But on Friday,
they managed to post an above-par total on this surface because every other batter, barring Livingstone, did what was necessary.
It's also a testament to their squad construction that they have multiple players capable of hitting spin, compensating for Kohli's weakness against the slower bowlers.
Phil Salt (powerplay basher), Rajat Patidar and Livingstone (spin hitters), Jitesh Sharma and Tim David (finishers and pace hitters), this is a team that's ideally equipped to bat around Kohli. Throw Devdut Padikkal to the mix as well.
It helps that they have a far better bowling line-up too. Now, this isn’t to say Kohli can play the way he did on Friday and it will have no impact on the result. It might on occasions. But on most days, RCB have got him covered. Friday was one such day.
