Amid the debate over the significance of strike rate in T20 cricket, Virat Kohli has said that playing the anchor's role still holds importance in the shortest format.

According to the RCB batter, it is difficult for people on the outside to understand why batters tend to take it slow, especially after the conclusion of a powerplay.

Notably, Kohli came under the scanner for his knock of 44-ball 61 against Lucknow Super Giants earlier this week. While Virat took the LSG attack to the cleaners in the first 6 overs, he slowed down after the powerplay, taking his time against the spin duo of Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi.

In fact, the star batter took 10 balls to get from 42 to 50. As a result, his approach was criticized by former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull on-air.

"Yeah for sure (important anchor role). I completely agree with that, There are many people who because they have not been in that situation themselves, they look at the game differently," Kohli told Robin Uthappa in an interview for JioCinema.

"Suddenly when the powerplay is done, they will be like 'oh, they have started rotating the strike'. When you haven't lost a wicket in the powerplay, usually the best player comes on to bowl, you are trying to figure out what to do against him in the first two overs, so that you can get big ones in the last two overs of that guy and then rest of the innings become much easier," he added.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli also said the backing he received from RCB in the first three years has a lot to do with him being loyal to the franchise.

"It's been amazing. Why I value this journey with RCB so much is because for the first three years, before the retention happened, they backed me a lot. My only feedback to Rey Jennings who was the coach at that time was I want to bat at the top-order because I batted at No. 3 for India, and I would like to bat at No. 3," he remarked.