‘Concerned about a milestone’ - Simon Doull blasts Virat Kohli’s deceleration while nearing half-century against LSG

RCB skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli ensured a perfect start as the hosts were cruising against Lucknow Super Giants on April 10 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The duo played some brilliant cricketing strokes and took LSG bowlers to the cleaners as the home side smashed 56 runs in the powerplay. Virat Kohli was playing an aggressive brand of cricket while Faf was playing the role of an anchor for the majority part, but that soon changed after the field restriction eased up.

Kohli, who initially smacked 42 runs off 25 deliveries, scored only 19 runs in his next 19 deliveries. He eventually ended up scoring 61 runs off 44 deliveries, and that disappointed former cricketer Simon Doull, who later criticised Kohli for his slow strike rate. Notably, from the end of the powerplay until the 14th over of the match, RCB scored only 48 runs, which possibly could be one of the reasons behind their defeat at the hands of Lucknow, as the visiting team needed only one run to win on the final delivery.

Meanwhile, Doull, part of the commentary team, criticised Kohli and made a massive statement saying that the former RCB captain slowed down as he was concerned about the approaching milestone. He also went on to add that there’s no room for such a game in modern-day cricket.

“Kohli started off like a train; he was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots. From 42 to 50, he took ten balls. Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going, especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going,” Doull said on commentary as quoted by Wisden.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time the 53-year-old pointed out something like this. He previously took a dig against Pakistan skipper Babar Azam over his strike rate, and later, the two also had a conversation about the same during the Pakistan Super League. Doull opined that Babar was only looking for his century rather than putting the team first.

Meanwhile, with their second consecutive defeat, RCB are now seventh on the IPL Points Table, and things are not looking very promising for the Faf du Plessis-led side at the moment.