Not worried about Kohli's form: Virender Sehwag

Virat Kohli has undoubtedly been the face of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) over the last few seasons. He becomes the instinctual focus when you talk about RCB. At times he has single handedly won games for his franchise. Making their way into the tenth edition of the league his form was always going to be the key to RCB’s hopes.

However, he hasn’t been in the best of forms this season which has certainly affected Bangalore’s dream of clinching the title. Kohli, in 9 games so far has scored only 250 runs at an average of 27.77 which is pretty poor considering his standards. However, former India batsman and now the mentor of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Virender Sehwag doesn’t seem to be too worried about Kohli’s lean patch with the bat.

It’s just a bad patch

When asked about the Indian captain’s poor run in the ongoing edition of IPL, Sehwag said, “It (bad patch) happens with every player. Even if you look at the great Sachin Tendulkar, he hasn’t played the same every year. Even your (media) questions keep changing time to time. When time changes, the form also changes. The hallmark of a good player is who can come out of bad form and Virat knows very well how to get back into good form.”

Sehwag was speaking at a meet and greet session organised by 92.7 BIG FM on Friday. Further, he also disagreed with the point that the Indian players could be a bit exhausted going into the 50-over Champions Trophy after taking part in the T20 League.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said.

KXIP’s chances in the tournament

Talking about his sides (KXIP) playoff chances Sehwag feels that since it depended on other teams, it was crucial for Punjab to maintain a good run-rate.

“Our qualification depends on other teams. If (Rising) Pune (Supergiant) lose and (Sunrisers) Hyderabad lose, or KKR (Kolkata Night Riders) lose then we have a chance to qualify. We have to maintain the run-rate and only then we can qualify,” he said.

Kings XI Punjab defeated the table toppers Mumbai Indians on Thursday (May 12) in a last over thriller to keep their qualification hopes alive. They will now play their final round robin game against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) on May 14.