'With the Impact Player, Game Has Really Moved on From Virat Kohli's Batting Template: Tom Moody

Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody has criticised Virat Kohli’s batting approach against Delhi Capitals as Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered a 7-wicket win on Saturday night at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi. It was a homecoming for Kohli and he scored a gritty half-century but RCB were 25-30 runs short as DC chased down the 182-run target with 20 balls to spare.

Former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Moody said that cricket has moved on from Kohli’s template of batting and players are scoring with a 150+ strike rate because of batting depth in their sides.

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Kohli hit 55 runs off 46 balls as he failed to put his foot on the accelerator while his teammate Mahipal Lomror smashed 54 runs off 29 balls. They shared a 56-run partnership for the third wicket as Kohli played the role of anchor in that but was dismissed when the team required him to switch gears.

In reply, Phillip Salt’s mega 87-run knock (45b, 8×4, 6×6) helped Delhi Capitals chase the target and keep themselves alive in the IPL 2023.

“Will always have this debate because it is the Virat Kohli template. It’s the way he bats. His career strike rate is around 130. His ability to continue to churn out runs is quite extraordinary,” Moody said on ESPNCricinfo.

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“But maybe he also felt that whilst the other end was flying along, his role was to feed that other end. But in my view, particularly with the impact player, the game has really moved on from that style of cricket. That’s why we are seeing so many totals go to 200+. There is no such role.

We all need to be going here at 150+ without a doubt because we have the comfort of depth. But did they get as many as they could have? If he took his foot a little off the brake and went with Lomror, and tried to target a boundary an over himself, we will never know,” he added.

After their loss against Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore remain fifth in the points table with five wins from ten matches so far.

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