Former RCB pacer Varun Aaron tried to defend Virat Kohli for scoring his half-century very slowly against Hyderabad last night, which Tom Moody termed unacceptable.
Varun Aaron sat with Tom Moody on ESPNcricinfo’s IPL post-match show and they discussed all about it RCB Vs SRH Clash last night.
Virat Kohli’s knock divides opinions
In one of the segments, the host asked Aaron and Moody to share their views on Virat Kohli’s approach behind scoring his 3rd fifty in IPL 2024 at a strike rate of just 118.
Although Bengaluru maintained a run rate of 10 throughout the innings, Virat Kohli’s batting was very questionable. Yes, he had to make sure he held onto one end in the middle continuously Fall of the wickets. But one also cannot deny that RCB could have easily scored more points than them if Kohli had sped up his innings a bit.
After the departures of Faf du Plessis and Will Jacks, it was Rajat Patidar who smashed the ball all over the place and maintained a good run rate. Patidar batted at a strike rate of 250 along with 2 fours and 5 sixes and scored 50 out of 20. The highlight of his knock was the 4 consecutive sixes he hit against SRH leg-spinner Mayank Markande.
What did Varun Aaron say about Virat Kohli?
In the ESPNcricinfo post-match show, Varun Aaron was asked to explain the reason behind Virat Kohli’s slow knock. The host asked if it was because of his intention or because of the slow bowling from Hyderabad or if it was something that will happen one day.
In his reply, Aaron first emphasized that Virat Kohli scored most of RCB’s runs and that the team was overly dependent on him. And in his innings against SRH, the bowlers didn’t allow Kohli any pace on the ball at all. According to the former India pacer, this could be a tactic that opposition teams could use against him from now on.
“Look, he scored the most runs for RCB. They relied on him. They were overly dependent on him. Today was one of those days where the opponent just didn’t give him the pace on the ball. And that’s something that teams will be able to deal with after this game – that doesn’t give him too much speed off the power play.”
“And Jaidev Unadkat did really well. He was really frustrated because he just couldn’t muster any more strength. So SRH bowling also deserves credit.”- Varun Aaron said on ESPNcricinfo’s timeout show.
Tom Moody interrupts him and says Kohli’s 19 off the last 25 balls was unacceptable
The hosts then read out Virat Kohli’s runs in his last 25 balls. Kohli had scored just 19 in the four overs he played and Tom Moody asked Varun Aaron whether that was justified or not. “19 runs at 25. So you accept that regardless of how well the opposition bowled?” – Moody asked Aaron.
“No, I’m not saying I accept it. The thing is, that’s obviously the baseline. This is way too slow for a T20 game. But we should also look at the way the Sunrisers bowlers bowled.” – Aaron concluded.