Even after slamming his eighth Indian Premier League (IPL) century, Virat Kohli faced brutal criticism for playing at a slower strike rate. Kohli reached his century in 67 balls, equaling Manish Pandey’s record for the slowest IPL century in the league’s history.

Jos Buttler, who slammed a century in the same game for the Rajasthan Royals, did it in only 58 balls. He could have reached there faster had the asking rate not come down to less than run-a-ball in the chase. This further fuelled critics to target Kohli, as his team Royal Challengers Bengaluru also lost the game.

 

Kohli’s Critics Are Talking Nonsense: Rajkumar Sharma

Virat Kohli’s childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, dismissed the criticism as nonsense. “Some people who are saying this nonsense, I think they don’t know the context of the match, what the situation of the match was, and how the team was struggling,” Sharma said in an interaction on India News.

“They speak only to be in the news. Just because whenever you speak about a normal player, it does not bring you in the news headlines, but if you speak about a player like Virat Kohli, it brings you in the news headlines,” added the former Delhi player.

Lobby Running Agenda Against Him: Kohli’s Childhood Coach

Sharma, who is the recipient of the prestigious Dronacharya Award, accused those criticising Kohli of being part of a lobby.

“This is a lobby which is running an agenda. They’re just pushing an agenda, and as fans or true analysts, we don’t care about their agenda. See, the king will always be the king. A person who knows even the ‘C’ of cricket would never do such nonsense,” said the 59-year-old.

Kohli, 35, has been prolific in run-scoring in IPL 2024, amassing 316 runs in five innings with the help of two fifties and a century. However, his strike rate of 146.29 is only ahead of Sai Sudharsan among the top five run-getters this season.

First Published: Apr 10 2024 | 4:50 PM IST