"Don't know what Indian selectors are thinking about Virat Kohli.."- Andy Flower

Published - 07 Apr 2024, 01:47 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:10 AM

Virat Kohli and Andy Flower
Left: Virat Kohli after loss to RR in IPL 2024. Right: Andy Flower during RCB unbox event

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Zimbabwean head coach Andy Flower was all praise for Virat Kohli while speaking to press reporters after his side lost their 3rd match on the trot in IPL 2024.

After suffering losses against Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants at home in the Chinnaswamy stadium, RCB were handed a 6-wicket loss by the Rajasthan Royals last night at the Sawai Mansingh stadium.

Kohli scored his first century of this edition, which many think was slow but Flower claimed that it was just another classical innings from the stalwart's bat.

Virat Kohli was there in the crease for RCB until the last over of the 1st innings and he was a key reason why the team reached the total of 183. His 113* was extremely crucial but at the same time, it came at a cost.

It took Kohli 67 balls to register his first triple-digit score of this season, emulating Manish Pandey's record on the way.

During the 2009 season, Pandey had taken the same amount of balls to score a ton for the same franchise. And last night, Kohli became the joint-slowest centurion in IPL history.

As Virat Kohli received a lot of backlash last night, Andy Flower was the one who came to his support. Flower claimed that Kohli's 67-ball ton was a joy to watch and that Kohli is a "class act". "Virat Kohli is a class act, and that was a classy innings that he scored, that he had today. And it was really beautiful to watch, actually." - Flower told reporters at the SMS stadium in Jaipur.

Andy Flower says Virat Kohli is the top resource of the Indian team

Andy Flower was then asked to shed light on whether the BCCI will give Virat Kohli the chance to represent Team India in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in June.

There's a lot of talk going around that the 35-year-old might not be favored to visit the USA and West Indies given the fact that his gameplay might not suit the conditions over there.

To that, Flower said that Kohli is BCCI's top-most resource and that the board has a lot of talented players to choose from but claimed that Kohli tops all of those talented names.

"I wouldn't really comment on Indian selection. I don't know what they're thinking. They've got so much talent and class to choose from, you know, they've got an abundance of riches. And he's right at the top of that abundance." - Flower concluded.

RCB go 8th in the league table

After the 6-wicket loss last night, RCB have gone down to the 8th spot in the points table with just 2 points to their name.

They find themselves above 9th-placed Delhi Capitals and 10th-placed Mumbai Indians, who will be welcoming DC later today in Wankhede in a bid to win their first match of the season.

RCB will be in action next when they take an away trip to face MI on April 11th.

Tagged:

Virat Kohli Andy Flower Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB) Rajasthan Royals (RR) ICC T20 World Cup 2024 IPL 2024 India National Cricket Team