The current stand-in captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli has been very consistent at the top of the order in the IPL 2023 season. He has accumulated 333 runs in 8 matches at a decent strike rate of 142.31, but still, his rate of scoring against spin stands at 113.76. Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, has stated that Virat Kohli needs to be proactive against the spinners and look to score more boundaries against them.
While speaking during the post-match show of RCB vs KKR, Vaughan said, “A lot of teams are now going to bowl spin at Virat because of his strike rate difference. I think he is striking about 107 against spin. So most teams are now going to bowl spinners to Virat Kohli and they are going to put three (fielders) on the boundary at mid-wicket and they are going to bowl in (to him) and he has to knock it into there (mid-wicket region).”
The English cricketing legend further described Virat Kohli's T20 innings template to Cricbuzz , “I think his mindset in T20 Cricket after the six (overs) after the powerplay is almost to be there at the 18th (over). I don't think he is thinking boundaries enough. I think he still got to think boundaries. In T20 Cricket it is very very important.”
Furthermore, Michael Vaughan mentioned that the RCB opener does have the game to hit sixes against anyone and at any time, including the spinners, and said, “I think he can (Virat Kohli can hit boundaries). I think he is that good that he can. He has got the game, he has got the power, he has got the timing to be able to go, right I need a six, I am going to whack one out of the ground.”
Also, Vaughan was critical about the overdependence of RCB on their top order and pointed out that the team can’t rely on the cameos from the middle order to help them score high totals day in and day out, especially during a big run chase.
