‘Once you gain tempo, don’t change, – Ravi Shastri advises Virat Kohli following latter’s delicate knock against DC

Former India cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri opined that flamboyant Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Virat Kohli must not drop his tempo after hitting the ground running. The statements came after the former RCB skipper carved out a delicate knock against Delhi Capitals (DC), which ended in a losing cause at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Notably, Kohli faced the heat for his peculiar batting approach during the clash against Delhi as he notched up 55 in 46 balls in RCB’s loss. On that note, Shastri shared pearls of advice for the opener as he stated that Kohli must not drop his tempo once he hits the ground running. 

“Once you gain tempo, don’t change, don’t worry about the others. That will be my message to Virat (Kohli). Let them do their job. In a T20 game, you don’t need that many batsmen. If you are hot keep that going. Prime example of that was Phil Salt. You saw the way he batted. Once he got into the groove, he didn’t let go,” Shastri told ESPNcricinfo.

“It took the pressure off the other batsmen. Having said, even they were hammering whether it was (Mitchell) Marsh or (Rilee) Roussow. So that is something that could be there from Virat’s point of view. If he gets going, don’t change your tempo, try and up the ante,” added Shastri.

Ravi Shastri reflects on Rohit Sharma’s lean patch

In the same segment, Shastri also highlighted Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma’s underwhelming run with the bat in the IPL 2023. He stated that Rohit's lean patch with the bat has affected his decisions as a leader, and will need to work on getting the runs.

“If you start getting a purple patch where you are scoring runs, the job as a captain becomes much easier, the body language on the field changes, that energy on the field is different as opposed to when you are not getting runs. You can go flat no matter who you are,” Shastri said.

Of his ten outings in the league, Rohit has collected a meagre 184 runs at a dismal average of 18.40. Mumbai are all set to host RCB at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday, May 9. With the fag end of the season approaching, both sides will be gunning to break into the playoffs with wins in their remaining group fixtures.