‘If it was Virat Kohli, there would have been debates’ - Mohammad Kaif, Irfan Pathan burst strike rate hypocrisy

In the match against Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Travis Head took his time in the middle to settle down and eventually made 58 runs off 44 deliveries - which was in stark contrast to his usual fiery batting. Usually, the Australia international hammers the bowlers from the very start and tries to dominate the powerplay. However, since he lost his partners Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh early, Head decided to build the innings and didn’t focus much on his strike rate.

Keeping that in mind, former cricketers Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Kaif opined that if Virat Kohli had played such a knock, there would have been multiple debates on his strike rate. Notably, despite scoring a lot of runs and being second on the Orange Cap list, Kohli has been criticised for his strike rate throughout IPL 2024. Looking at Head’s innings, Pathan and Kaif rushed to Kohli’s defence and mentioned that every cricketer should be treated equally.

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“According to his ability, you have never seen him play like this. No matter what you say that there was good bowling and everything, but every cricketer should be treated equally,” Irfan said during commentary.

“You are right, if this was Virat Kohli, I can guarantee that people would have said only 58 runs in 44 balls? What is this? They would say it is low and there would have debates about his strike rate. But I believe that this was a good innings by Head,” Kaif added. 

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“But if there was Virat Kohli instead, people would have stuck to the strike rate but here we are talking about taking responsibility for team's victory, so please treat everyone equally,” Irfan concluded.

Meanwhile, Head’s 58 and Nitish Reddy’s 76* helped Sunrisers post 201 runs on the board against Rajasthan. When it came to the chase, the Sanu Samson-led side was in the hunt for the majority of the time but fell short by just one run in the end. With the win, Hyderabad moved to number four on the points table while Rajasthan remain on top.