“Concerned about a milestone”: Virat Kohli scoring 8 off 10 before half-century vs LSG draws criticism from Simon Doull

Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli scored an 87th T20 and 46th IPL half-century to provide his team with a solid start in the 15th match of the ongoing 16th season of the biggest T20 league around the world.

Opening the batting with captain Faf du Plessis at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Kohli scored 61 (44) with the help of four fours and as many sixes against Lucknow Super Giants. Wanting to attack veteran spinner Amit Mishra, Kohli ended up hitting the ball straight to all-rounder Marcus Stoinis at deep mid-wicket to bring an end to a 69-ball 96-run opening stand.

Although via a lucky top-edge over wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran, it was on the sixth delivery that he faced that Kohli hit his first boundary in the form of a six off pacer Avesh Khan. The following delivery, however, was a witness to a quintessential shot from a batter of Kohli’s class as he effortlessly hit Khan over the cover region.

In his next over, Kohli hit two more exquisite boundaries on the off-side to register a stamp of authority over the right-arm bowler. By the end of the powerplay, Kohli had scored 42* (25) on the back of hitting a six off all-rounder Krunal Pandya and a six and a four off fast bowler Mark Wood.

Virat Kohli scoring 8 off 10 before half-century vs LSG draws criticism from Simon Doull

Kohli, who ended up playing at a strike rate of 138.63 after scoring at 168 in the first six over, allured criticism from former New Zealand pacer and Star Sports commentator Simon Doull. Not mincing his words to find faults in a knock played by one of the biggest personalities in Indian cricket, Doull accused Kohli of being “concerned” about a personal milestone tonight.

“I get that they bowled better but [Virat] Kohli started off like a train. He was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots. From 42 to 50, he took 10 balls. Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in the game anymore. Just got to keep going especially with wickets in hand,” Doull said on-air.

Facing the likes of spinner Ravi Bishnoi and Pandya, Kohli did take 10 balls to score eight runs before touching the 50-run mark. While the right-handed batter did hit another six off Pandya, he couldn’t match his powerplay strike rate in the middle overs.

Speaking of Doull, it isn’t for the first time when he has censured a high-profile batter’s T20 batting approach this year. The 53-year old had taken a dig at Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam‘s strike rate during Pakistan Super League 2023 as well.