It’s taken a long time coming, but there’s a clear paradigm shift in Virat Kohli‘s batting approach in this edition of the IPL.
In a stark contrast to his usual calculated approach focused on anchoring the innings, Kohli now appears willing to gamble more with his batting. This shift in strategy isn’t without reason.
There is talk that Kohli is not an automatic selection for this year’s T20 World Cup.And that somewhere clearly seems to have hurt the pride of India’s batting lynchpin.
Kohli has seemingly shed his inhibitions and no more looks hesitant to play lofted shots whenever an opportunity presents itself.
His first three innings have yielded Royal Challengers Bengaluru 181 runs and it has come at a strike rate of 141.
On Friday, Kohli hammered Mitchell Starc for 33 runs in 17 balls (3×4, 2×6).
Another telling aspect of Friday evening was Kohli opening his shoulders against Sunil Narine.
He hit the mystery spinner for a six on the fifth ball he faced.
What’s so special about it? That’s only the second time he has hit the West Indian for a maximum in IPL history.