IPL 2022: You Can Understand Why Virat Kohli Was Slow But It Was Not Rajat Patidar's Fault - Aakash Chopra

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra asserted that Virat Kohli had to accelerate after taking his time at the crease and his knock was in no way affected by Rajat Patidar at the other end.

RCB lost their third game on the trot, this time against the Gujarat Titans (GT) who now have 8 wins in 9 matches. Batting first, RCB mustered up 170 on the board which was chased down by the confident GT lineup in the final over.

“Faf du Plessis was dismissed for zero right at the start. Rajat Patidar came and shone. He was that uncapped Indian who rocked, he allowed Virat Kohli to be, that’s the reality. If he had not run at a speed of 200, Kohli couldn’t have done what he did.”

“You can understand why Kohli’s pace was slow but it was not Rajat Patidar’s fault and RCB could have paid for it more if Patidar had not played in the fashion he played,” Chopra told on his YouTube channel.

Kohli scored a 53-ball 58 which would have given him some confidence but keeping the franchise’s point of view in mind, his knock may have cost the team some extra runs in the end.

“Truth is also that 185-190 was possible” – Aakash Chopra

After taking his time, Kohli had to move on but his dismissal mean the new batters needed more time to settle. Unfortunately, apart from Maxwell, there was nobody else trying to up the ante and RCB fell short by at least 10 runs.

“After that, the expectation from Virat Kohli was to accelerate but unfortunately, the acceleration didn’t come, a strike rate of 109. When the acceleration didn’t come, I thought this team will not reach 190, even 170 was looking difficult.”

“Glenn Maxwell played very well and later Mahipal Lomror, who roared loudly. He used to play for Rajasthan and was picked by this franchise in this auction. Overall, you reached 170, which I thought was a decent score. But the truth is also that 185-190 was possible if RCB had batted a little more aggressively,” Chopra added.

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