New Delhi: Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli may have been leading the Orange Cap race in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 so far, but his innings throughout have failed to impress the netizens.

In five matches, the stylish Indian batter has scored 316 runs with two half-centuries and one hundred. RCB is currently in the ninth position of the IPL points tally as they have lost four matches out of five.

For the record, RCB have never won any IPL title, even when Kohli was leading the team. He then left the job and Faf Du Plessis took charge, but the results weren’t favourable even after that. Kohli singlehandedly performed for RCB but his batting style received negative comments from the fans on social media. His strike rate of 146.29 is talk of the town especially when young cricketers are way ahead in this department, considering the fast nature of the format.

Kohli’s 67-ball ton against Rajasthan Royals was the joint-slowest in the tournament history and one that came in a losing cause. And this didn’t go down well with cricket fanatics.

“Such a strike rate is dangerous for your team in T20. Kohli must fire or he will be fired from the national squad, T20 World Cup approaching,” wrote one on X. Another wrote, “Virat Kohli Strike rate in this IPL is causing more damage to them!”

“He is a tuk tuk player,” wrote one.

Amid all this criticism, Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has quashed them all and come out in support of the RCB superstar.

Rajkumar posted a video on his Instagram account of a TV debate and extended his support to Kohli. “Agenda as they call it, he knows how and when to perform,” he captioned the video.

Lara backs Kohli: Kohli smashed his eighth century in the IPL, the most number of hundreds by any player in the history of the tournament. One of the greatest of all time, Brian Lara, opened up on this debate and he is pretty happy with how the Indian run-machine has played.

Opening the innings alongside Faf du Plessis against RR, Virat smashed 113 off just 72 balls at a strike rate of 156.94. The iconic southpaw was firm about his belief that this number should be good enough for VK to be a part of the Indian cricket team for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Talking in the Star Sports Press Room, Brian Lara said, “The strike rate depends on position, and for an opener strike-rate of 130-140 is pretty alright. But if you are coming in the middle-order then you may be required to hit at 150 or 160.”

Indo-Asian News Service