Table of Contents
Australia and Punjab Kings all-rounder Marcos Stoinis picked Virat Kohli as a bowler for his backyard cricket team. It was a surprising choice made by the all-rounder, as Virat is widely regarded as a batting legend.
Marcos Stoinis, however, selected Virat Kohli as a backyard cricket bowler because of his part-time bowling skills, which could trick the batter, as most of the batters are not aware of the Indian batter's bowling skills.
Virat Kohli's bowling stats across the formats
So, for Stoinis, Virat could be a mystery bowler in backyard cricket. It is not that Virat can't bowl. He has some bowling skills and has taken some wickets as well for the India National Cricket Team and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
During the early to mid of his career, the Delhi-born occasionally rounded his arms for both of the teams. Virat used his medium pace across the formats for the Men in Blue. In the T20Is, he took 4 wickets in 152 balls, and 5 ODI wickets in 50 innings, but failed to claim any wickets in Tests throughout his career.
For the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the batting star took 4 wickets, including a bowling figure of 2 for 25 in his entire Indian Premier League career so far. It is also important to note that for more than a decade, he did not deliver a single ball for Bengaluru in the league. The brace he bagged was against the Gujarat Lions (now defunct) in 2016.
Virat Kohli last bowled during the 2023 ODI World Cup
For the India National Cricket Team, Virat Kohli last spotted bowling during the 2023 ODI World Cup against the Netherlands cricket team. At his very own M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, he took a wicket for India after nine years, dismissing Dutch captain Scott Edwards. KL Rahul took a clean catch to allow Virat to celebrate his long-awaited wicket. So there are a few instances when Virat outfoxed the batters.
"Maybe Virat (Kohli) because I think his bowling would be really awkward in backyard cricket," Marcos Stoinis said on the Star Sports YouTube channel.
Virat Kohli took a few wickets for Delhi as well
Analyzing Virat's overall bowling performance for India, it is found that the former India captain, who is currently active only in ODI and in the Indian Premier League, has taken 5 wickets so far in the format with the best bowling figure of 1/13 and with one maiden over. Virat Kohli bowled a maiden over in the 50-over format as well. He bagged some wickets in domestic cricket as well.
Across various tournaments, he snatched multiple wickets for his state cricket team, Delhi. In First-Class cricket, Virat claimed 3 wickets in 156 matches and 5 wickets in 350 List A cricket matches. In overall T20s, the batter scalped 8 wickets in 430 matches and took 45 wickets with an amazing economy rate of 8.70.
As of now, Virat is not with the Indian cricket team as he has retired from Tests. He is expected to feature in the ODIs again when India will be up against West Indies at home.
