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Sunil Gavaskar while weighing in on Virat Kohli's recent outburst regarding criticism of his strike rate in the ongoing IPL 2024, called out the host broadcasters Star Sports for the negative commentary on star batters' slow strike rate. Kohli's performance after the powerplay overs has been a source of discussion, with some commentators calling for quicker scoring. While Kohli responded with a solid 70 off 44 balls against Gujarat Titans on April 28th, it was his post-match comments that drew attention.
Appearing on a pre-show before the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) versus Gujarat Titans' (GT) IPL 2024 clash, Gavaskar expressed reservations about Kohli's reaction. He pointed out that the commentators were simply reacting to what they saw on the field – Kohli's strike rate hovering around 118 before his dismissal in the mid-innings. This suggests Gavaskar believes Kohli's response might not have been entirely justified.
Gavaskar cracks whip on IPL 2024's broadcasters for making fuss about Virat Kohli's strike rate
"Commentators questioned only when the strike rate was 118. I'm not too sure. I don't watch too many matches, so I don't know what the other commentators have said otherwise. But if you have a strike of 118 and then you get out in the 14th or the 15th with a strike-rate of 118, I mean, if you want applause for that, that's a little bit different. That's different," said Gavaskar during the live show alongside Matthew Hayden.
Gavaskar questions Kohli's reaction to commentary
Sunil Gavaskar expressed his views on Virat Kohli's response to criticism about his strike rate. Gavaskar highlighted the apparent contradiction between Kohli's past statements about ignoring external noise and his recent reaction to commentary.
He emphasized that cricket commentators are professionals who analyze the game objectively, without personal agendas. This suggests that Gavaskar believes Kohli might have been overly sensitive to the commentary.
"When you talk about all these guys talk about, oh we don't care about outside noise, acha. Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don't have agendas. We speak about what we see. We don't necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we actually speak on what is happening," Gavaskar added.
This is how Sunil Gavaskar reacted to negative commentary on Kohli's strike rate
Talking about the match, RCB won the toss and elected to bat first against GT on May 4. Batting first GT could only post a 147 runs on the board. In reply, Kohli clicked yet again and scored a quickfire 42 off 27 alongside Faf Du Plessis, who notched a lightning 64 off 23 to help RCB chase down the total with four wickets to spare. Notably Kohli scored runs with a strike rate of 155.56 riding on four sixes and two fours.
Gujarat Titans' Playing XI
Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Joshua Little
Gujarat Titans Impact Subs: Sandeep Warrier, Sharath BR, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Playing XI
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Subs: Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Akash Deep, Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai
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