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India's Test veteran Cheteshwar Pujara feels that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) opener Virat Kohli has answered his strike rate critics during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Pujara noted that it is not easy to make changes to their game at the latter part of one's career but Kohli has evolved as a T20 batter.
"It's not easy, but the good part about Virat is that he is one of the fittest cricketers, and he is open to adapting to a new challenge or something different. He is always open to learning new things," Pujara said on Star Sports.
"People have been criticising him in the past that he wasn't batting at a strike rate of 140-150. Now, if you look at his batting this season, he has answered that question. He has batted at a strike rate of 140-150 and above. So he has evolved as a batter," he added.
Pujara hailed Kohli for working on his game at the age of 36. He is impressed with the former RCB captain's willingness to learn.
"It doesn't come naturally. You need to work on it, and even to work on it at this age, when he is 36 and has played the game for such a long time, if you are still willing to learn and make a difference to the team, that shows how big a player he is," the former RCB batter said.
Kohli's strike rate is good but previous season was better
Sudharsan scored 657 runs from 15 innings at an average of 54.75 and strike rate of 144.71. However, Kohli had a better strike rate and more runs last season. He scored 741 runs from 15 innings at an verage of 61.75 and strike rate of 154.69. In IPL 2019, his strike rate was 141.46. During his record-breaking IPL 2016 run, he scored 973 runs at a strike rate of 152.03.
Pujara on Kohli's emotional reaction
As the second ball of the final over was bowled, Kohli was getting emotional as RCB's title win was sealed. Pujara termed it as a moment of Kohli's career.
"It's a massive moment in his career. He has achieved a lot in his career, but the one thing he couldn't achieve in his career for so many years was an IPL title. It shows how much it mattered to him because he was working hard to win this title for many years. He was looking very emotional and the tears coming from his eyes show the importance of an IPL title for a cricketer," the Saurashtra batter said.
Pujara also feels that this was the only feather missing in Kohli's cap, the former India captain who has achieved a lot on international cricket stage.
"Virat has many personal achievements in his career and has done a lot with the Indian team as well. Only one thing was left incomplete in his cricketing career, that was the IPL title. RCB won that yesterday (Tuesday), and his dream of winning an IPL title got fulfilled," the 37-year-old added.
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