Veteran Sunil Gavaskar once again praised Virat Kohli’s batting after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) match against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 24.
When Virat Kohli was on 0 runs in the second innings, Washington Sundar dropped a routine catch of fast bowler Mohammad Siraj. Sunil Gavaskar believes that Gujarat Titans lost the match because of Virat Kohli’s drop catch.
GT dismissed Virat Kohli for 0
With extra life, the RCB legend played a match-winning innings. Chasing the target of 206 runs, Virat scored 81 runs in 44 balls. RCB won the match by 5 wickets and 7 balls remaining. Devdutt Padikkal (55 off 27) also played his part well in the chase. The partnership between Virat and Devdutt changed the course of the match.
Sunil Gavaskar while speaking on Star Sports said, “Virat Kohli’s dropped catch off Siraj’s ball definitely cost Gujarat Titans dearly. We all know he is not just known as a king. He is also known as a chase master. You drop him on the first ball, then he will definitely make you pay. That is exactly what he did.”
Sunil Gavaskar told, Virat is called ‘Chessmaster’
Gavaskar reminded by saying that Virat Kohli has played many successful innings while batting at number two. Due to his reliability in chasing tough targets, cricket fans awarded the batsman the title of ‘Chasemaster’.
“Chasing big scores with ease has been Virat’s trademark batting style throughout his career. The man is one of the greatest players of the game. He made it look easy,” the former cricketer said.
After the match, Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill also admitted that Virat Kohli’s drop catch was an important point of the match. However, he said that they lost the match due to faulty bowling efforts.
Gill said, “I mean when a batsman is out or not, it is always tough for the fielder, but I think it is important how you come back into the game. And with the ball, I think we had some moments, but I don’t think we were able to hit the length ball consistently, which is sometimes difficult to hit on this wicket.”
Gavaskar also praised Devdutt Padikkal
During his clarification, Gavaskar, along with praising Virat, also mentioned the efforts of Devdutt Padikkal. The former opening batsman highlighted the evolution in Padikkal’s batting. Gavaskar told that the batsman used to struggle on the on-side. But now, he is hitting the ball all around the park.
Sunil Gavaskar said, “Devdutt Padikkal played a brilliant innings. Virat Kohli rightly said after the match that Padikkal was hitting some very clean cricket shots. Earlier he was seen as an offside player. His main scoring areas were cover and mid-off. He used to struggle on the on-side. But now he has crossed that limit.”
He is also hitting sixes and fours behind square. This strengthens RCB’s batting. He has Devdutt at number three and Captain Rajat Patidar at number four. Both can hit a six with the very first ball. This is making a big difference for RCB at the moment.
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