'Genius par excellence' - RCB batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik extols Virat Kohli after crucial half-century versus LSG

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting coach and mentor, Dinesh Karthik, heaped praise on Virat Kohli after the legendary batter's whirlwind half-century laid the foundation for the record run-chase against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the ongoing IPL 2025 (Indian Premier League) on Tuesday, May 27, at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.

RCB needed to beat LSG to finish in the top two, which gives a team two chances of reaching the Indian Premier League (IPL) final. While RCB came into the clash as the favourites, LSG gave a great account of themselves while batting as Rishabh Pant finally found form, smashing a phenomenal 118* off 61 deliveries. This was after Mitchell Marsh scored a 37-ball 67. On the back of these two epic knocks, Lucknow posted a massive 227/3 in their 20 overs.

RCB needed a blistering start to entertain hopes of chasing the humongous total, and the Phil Salt-Virat Kohli duo provided the desired start. They added 61 runs inside the powerplay. Virat Kohli smashed a 30-ball 54, belting 10 boundaries. Later, stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma smashed an unbeaten 85 off 33 deliveries to take his team home with six wickets and eight balls to spare. Mayank Agarwal (41*) and Salt (30) made handy contributions as RCB registered their highest successful run-chase in the IPL.

During his knock, Kohli became the first player to score 9,000 runs for one IPL franchise. Karthik praised the 36-year-old, highlighting his passion, hard work, and commitment.

"Genius par excellence, that's the start, I'll say for Virat Kohli. Across 18 seasons, he already averages, not averages, he's got 9000 runs, which is 500 runs a season. People managed to get that 12 seasons. Hayden has got it a few times more, but it is such a hard ask. But for him to come churn out runs every year, have that motivation, even in warmups, the way he feels," Karthik said while speaking to JioHotstar.

Karthik praises Kohli's work ethic

Furthermore, Dinesh Karthik also shed light on Virat Kohli's work ethic even during training sessions. In particular, he highlighted the sheer passion and intensity the Delhi-based batter carries. He revealed that Kohli not only displays hard work during training but also carries the passion of a young boy even today. Hence, there is a lot to learn from Kohli when it comes to youngsters taking up the game of cricket.

"I was just hitting a few balls to him, the speed at which it comes back in the mid, it tells you the man has got so much passion and intensity with anything he wants to do, and that's such a brilliant attribute for any young boy and girl wanting to play sport, forget cricket, just the passion, the hard work, the dedication, with every minute you spend towards the sport. He is a walking example of that," Karthik concluded.