Sunil Gavaskar, Cameron Green
Sunil Gavaskar (Image Credit: Twitter)

Former India captain, Sunil Gavaskar advises Virat Kohli to keep batting to his strengths which is to attack the ball, instead of trying to play cheeky and getting out. The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper continued his inconsistent run in the IPL 2021 on Tuesday as he got out for 12 runs off 11 balls against the Delhi Capitals.

Out of 6 innings this season, Virat Kohli has one fifty – 72* against Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede – while the rest of his innings are all of the strike rates below 120. Against the Capitals, the right-hander inside-edged an Avesh Khan delivery, while looking to guide it to third-man, outside off back to his stumps – Sunil Gavaskar to that believes Kohli should have driven or punched it like he normally would have done.

Virat Kohli, Avesh Khan
Avesh Khan dismisses Virat Kohli. (Photo: BCCI/Screengrab)

“Yes, he hasn’t fired. He sets such high standards for himself that every time he comes out to bat, people expect a big innings from him, a 50-plus innings from him. I just want to say maybe he should not be the tickler, he should be the puncher,” Sunil Gavaskar said while speaking with Star Sports.

“What he tried to do today (on Tuesday) was he tried to tickle the ball for a single, he should be looking to hit the ball in such a way the way he drives, the way he punches it around the extra cover area so that’s exactly what he has to do.

“He has got to play it straight, he has got to not look to guide the ball to the third man because you want somebody like a Virat Kohli to be punching as he does.

“That flick that he played, those are his strengths. He must keep playing to his strengths, he will be backing to getting runs,” he added.

AB de Villiers makes your jaw drop with the kind of audacity: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar was effusive in praise of AB de Villiers, who once again was tasked with carrying RCB’s batting order on his back. The South African took the side from 114/4 to 171/5, and smashed 22 runs, with the help of 3 gigantic sixes, in the last over bowled by Marcus Stoinis; de Villiers’ onslaught in the last over proved to be the decisive factor as RCB won by just a solitary run.

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AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers (Image Credit: Twitter)

“It’s amazing, it’s just magical. You can walk around the earth just to see AB de Villiers bat. He brings so much joy, he makes your jaw drop with the kind of audacity with which he plays the shots.

“When you see a genius like that, you want to watch him carry on. You want to say ‘why don’t you send him to open the batting because we can get to see more of him?’. Let’s see 20 overs of AB de Villiers. That’s what I, as a former batsman, always say when I see him in this kind of form,” Sunil Gavaskar stated.

With the victory over the Capitals, RCB climbs back to the top of the table with 5 wins in their bag. They will next face KL Rahul’s Punjab Kings on Friday.

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