'Virat Kohli is not just known as king…': Sunil Gavaskar drops massive statement amid IPL 2026

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar lauded Virat Kohli’s batting again, after the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) match against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 24 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

While Virat Kohli was on 0 in the second innings, Washington Sundar dropped a routine catch off the pacer Mohammed Siraj. Sunil Gavaskar believes that the drop catch of Virat Kohli cost the Gujarat Titans the match.

GT dropped Virat Kohli on 0

With the extra lifeline, the RCB stalwart went on to play a match-winning knock. Virat scored 81 runs from 44 balls while chasing a target of 206 runs. RCB won the match by 5 wickets and 7 balls to spare. Devdutt Padikkal (55 off 27) also played his part well in the chase. The partnership of Virat and Devdutt changes the complexion of the match.

"That dropped catch of Virat Kohli off Siraj's bowling definitely cost the Gujarat Titans a lot. We all know he is not just known as a king. He is known as a chase master as well. You drop him on the first ball, then he will definitely make you pay. That is exactly what he did,” Sunil Gavaskar said, speaking on Star Sports.

Sunil Gavaskar explained Virat is called the 'chasemaster'

Gavaskar gave a reminder by saying that Virat Kohli has played multiple successful knocks batting second. Because of his credibility to chase down stiff totals, cricket fans awarded the batter the ‘Chasemaster’ title.

“Chasing down huge totals with ease has been Virat's trademark batting style throughout his career. This man is one of the greatest in the game. He made it look easy,” the former cricketer added.

After the match, Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill also admitted that the drop catch of Virat Kohli was a crucial point of the contest. Though he stated that because of a faulty bowling effort, they lost the match.

“I mean, when a batsman gets dropped or not, it's always, it's tough on the fielder, but I think it's important how you come back in the game. And with the ball, I think we had our moments, but I don't think we were able to consistently hit the length ball, which was at times difficult to hit on this wicket,” Gill said.

Gavaskar praised Devdutt Padikkal as well

Along with praising Virat, Gavaskar mentioned Devdutt Padikkal’s effort as well during his explanation. The former opener highlighted the development in Padikkal’s batting. Gavaskar explained that the batter used to struggle on the on-side. But now, he has been striking the ball all around the park.

“Devdutt Padikkal played an excellent innings. Virat Kohli rightly pointed out after the match that Padikkal has been hitting some very clean cricketing 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 overcome that limitation,” Sunil Gavaskar reckoned.

He is hitting sixes and boundaries behind square as well. This adds to RCB's batting strength. They have Devdutt at number three and Captain Rajat Patidar at number four. Both can hit sixes from the first ball. That is making a big difference for RCB right now,” he added.

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