"Virat Kohli can't carry RCB anymore.."- Tom Moody

Former Sunrisers Hyderabad Coach Tom Moody has defended Virat Kohli over talks of a poor batting strike in IPL 2024 match 19. Virat Kohli slammed a spectacular century in the RR vs RCB match on Saturday in a losing cause.

Hitting 12 fours and 4 sixes, Kohli shattered an unbeaten 113 runs off 72 balls. However, he reached his century off 67 balls; which is the joint-slowest in Indian Premier League so far. Moreover, RCB could only reach 183-3 and failed to cross 200 runs on the board despite Kohli's ton.

In the end, Kohli held a strike rate of 156+. He started a little slower at the start but gained pace later. However, since Rajasthan Royals won the match in the end in the 19th over, Kohli's marvelous knock went in vain.

Also Read: RCB coach Andy Flower fires shots at his own batsmen after RCB face a horrendous start in IPL 2024

Virat Kohli can’t carry the whole team: Tom Moody

While speaking on ESPN's show 'Timeout', former Australia cricketer Tom Moody defended Virat Kohli over his batting strike rate. Moody feels Kohli's strike rate cannot be questioned as he cannot carry the whole team.

"I don't think his strike rate can be questioned tonight because he can't carry the whole team, you know, he provided an outstanding century", said Tom Moody, who is the current Director of Sri Lanka Cricket.

Moody also feels other RCB batters let down Kohli as they failed to score runs at a high strike rate to support him and take the scoreboard to a powerful target. Moody also added that RCB went short of 15-20 runs in the end in the RR vs RCB clash.

"But he was let down at the other end with people not striking at the rate that gave them a competitive score. Again, they were probably 15-20 runs short", the 58-year-old said.

Also Read: Virat Kohli forgets his team has lost; does this after the match for Jos Buttler

Virat Kohli had the best strike rate in the RR vs RCB game

Interestingly, Virat Kohli had the best strike rate of all the RCB batters who took the crease in the RR vs RCB game of IPL 2024. Faf du Plessis (133+), Glenn Maxwell (33.33), Saurav Chauhan (150.0), and Cameron Green (83.33) had a lesser strike rate than Virat Kohli (156+). Also, other batters failed to smash runs towards the end after Virat Kohli (113*) and Faf du Plessis (44) gave a brilliant start to batting.

The RCB openers made a partnership of 125 runs in 14 overs for the first wicket. RCB was expected to reach a mammoth total on the back of their amazing start. However, like in previous games, the middle-order batters miserably failed to capture maximum runs for the team.

Meanwhile, RCB's batting woes continue in IPL 2024 as they have lost 4 games out of 5 at the start. With 315 runs in 5 games at a 100+ average, Kohli stands tall at the top of leading run-getters in IPL like a One-Man-Amry. However, Royal Challengers Bengaluru has struggled to support him in both batting and bowling.