Former India opener Aakash Chopra has taken a dig at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team and Virat Kohli after their 7-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the ongoing IPL 2024 on March 29.
Chopra compared Virat Kohli's innings to Kolkata's powerplay onslaught in the match where the visitors won by seven wickets in the chase of 186, with 19 balls to spare. The ace RCB batter scored 83* in 59 balls and added 65 runs for the second wicket with Cameron Green and 42 runs with Glenn Maxwell. However, RCB could only manage 182/6 in 20 overs.
KKR chased down the total in pure disdain with Sunil Narine opening the innings and hammering 47 in 22 balls, while Venkatesh Iyer (50), Shreyas Iyer (39*), and Phil Salt (30) contributed as well.
Speaking on the match on his YouTube channel, Aakash highlighted that Narine and Salt's powerplay onslaught of 85 runs in 36 balls single-handedly overshadowed Kohli's efforts.
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"When Sunil Narine opens, the template is absolutely clear - 'Either I or you will not remain'. He plays in that fashion and tries to hit sixes. Everyone knows that you need to repeatedly bowl bouncers and yorkers, but if you don't get success in that, just like Bengaluru didn't get in the first six overs, he takes the match far away from your grasp," Chopra said.
"Phil Salt was also there with him. Phil Salt hit 18 runs in the first over itself. He was brilliant. Just to put things in context, the opposing team bowled well but Kohli played 59 balls to reach 83 and Kolkata had already scored 85 in 5.5 overs. Whether it was Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Siraj, or Yash Dayal, everyone was hit a lot,” he added.
Chopra was all praises for KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir, who continued to back Narine as an opener.
"I feel Gautam has given them a lot of confidence. Sunil Narine's opening has Gautam Gambhir's imprint. Andre Russell's bowling at the death also has a little imprint of Gautam Gambhir. He is empowering them slightly and the same can be said about Venkatesh Iyer. He has been empowered to hit fours and sixes," Chopra explained.
