Many fans and analysts have praised Virat for his stature, expertise, and remarkable T20I record, but some have questioned if his style actually works for him.
Aaron Finch, the former captain of Australia, blasted critics on Wednesday for questioning India batsman Virat Kohli’s position in Men in Blue’s T20I lineup, labelling the discussion around his selection as “the biggest rubbish he has ever heard.” Discussions over Virat’s strategy in T20 cricket have generated conflicting opinions as the ICC T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in the West Indies/USA on June 1, approaches and the Indian Premier League (IPL) craze intensifies.Many fans and experts have praised Virat for his stature, remarkable T20I record, and experience, but some have questioned whether his slightly conservative style is appropriate for the hard-hitting, modern T20 cricket where batters frequently hit huge sixes off the first ball.
“It’s incomprehensible that every time an ICC event—regardless of format—approaches, people always bring up Virat Kohli and if he’s under pressure to retain his spot,” Finch remarked in an interview with ESPN. I have never heard such an enormous pile of nonsense as this. His skill with the white ball is unmatched, in my opinion.”
“When you choose a team, you choose a person who performs well for his team every day, especially during crucial games. It doesn’t matter whether he strikes at 140 and other men strike at 160. He continued, “It is absurd that we are still having this discussion.
Virat silenced his detractors with a magnificent 77 in 49 balls, complete with 11 fours and two sixes, during his team’s most recent IPL match against Punjab Kings (PBKS). With a strike rate of more than 157, Virat was hitting hard from the first delivery and went on to smash Sam Curran for four boundaries in the first over of the 177-run chase. His ability to take on bowlers in the middle overs and even go the aerial route was another noteworthy aspect of his knock.
Following his game-winning strike, Virat admitted that despite all the talk about him, he still “got it” when it comes to T20 cricket and that his name is mostly being utilized to promote the shorter version of the game in the USA ahead of the T20 World Cup through commercials. The fall of wickets forces him to play according to the circumstances, even though he attempts to go hard right away.
“During the post-match presentation, I realized that my name is often used to just promote T20 cricket across the world, but I guess I still got it,” Virat remarked.
“I aim to get the squad off to a fast start when I begin in T20. But you also need to be aware of the circumstances when wickets start to fall. This was not the usual placid wicket. The speed seemed a little off. I was limited to playing accurate cricket shots; I was unable to hit balls over the boundary. I gave it a go a couple of times, but I felt like I needed big hits at the other end, and Anuj Rawat and Glenn Maxwell went out fast,” he continued.
In T20I cricket, Virat is the top run scorer. With a strike rate of over 138 and an average of 51.75, he has amassed 4,037 runs at a strike rate of over 138 in 117 matches, including 37 fifties in 109 innings. 122* is his greatest score.
In IPL history, he is also the leading run scorer. With seven hundreds and fifty-one fifties, he has scored 7,361 runs at an average of 37.36 in 239 games and 231 innings. 130.16 is the strike rate at which he has scored runs.Virat is also the ICC T20 World Cup’s most run scorer and most decorated hitter in its history. With 14 half-centuries in 25 innings, Virat has amassed 1,141 runs at an average of 81.50 and a strike rate of 131.30 in 27 T20 World Cup games. His highest rating is 89*. In 2014 and 2016, when India finished as runners-up and semifinalists, respectively, he was again named the “Player of the Tournament” (319 runs in six matches at an average of 106.33 with four fifties) and 273 runs in five matches at an average of 136.5 with three fifties. In the end, he was the top run scorer in 2014.Virat has averaged 518 across the tournament’s nine innings of successful run chases, and he has only been removed once. Seven of these nine innings have included fifty-score runs.
Virat finished as the top run scorer in the Australia 2022 edition, scoring 296 runs in six games at an average of 98.66 and a strike rate of 136.40, including four fifty-score innings. His innings of 82* against Pakistan in a hard-fought 160-run chase in Melbourne is regarded as one of the greatest T20I innings ever.
