The former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has made a huge statement on the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Pathan believes that despite Virat Kohli being in excellent form in T20 cricket he should not open the batting for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team in the 2023 IPL season.
In a match against Mumbai Indians, Kohli, and RCB’s captain Faf du Plessis showed great intent and chased down a target of over 170 by stitching a remarkable 148-run opening partnership.
During RCB’s encounter with MI, Kohli made a unique feat by hitting 800 boundaries in the IPL. He is now the third player and second Indian to reach this milestone. Shikhar Dhawan stands first while the Australian opener David Warner was the second batter to do so in IPL history.
Irfan Pathan thinks that there is no stability if Kohli will maintain the same performance throughout the rest of the IPL 2023 and lead his team to victories. Pathan’s statement came after Kohli got out after scoring only 21 runs in RCB’s crushing 81-run loss to KKR.
“This year is looking different for RCB as runs are coming out of Virat Kohli’s bat in the first few games. But it is no guarantee that he will continue scoring at the same pace (or for the remainder of the season) and win you every game,” Pathan said on Star Sports.
He further added, “In a tournament like this, other batters in the RCB squad will have to be ready for the challenge and justify their talents and roles. Also, I don’t think Kohli should be opening the batting for RCB.”
Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody also talked about RCB and said that the middle-order of this team looks too weak and opponents can take advantage of it.
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“To me, RCB’s middle order looks weak, and teams will aim to take advantage of this fact and pick up the wickets of Kohli and Faf early. If the opposition teams manage to take a couple of wickets in the power plays, they’ll be (very much) in the game against RCB,” Moody said.
