‘The confidence which I’ve in batting will be over if I bowl in IPL’ – Virat Kohli on why he does not want to bowl in cash-rich league ever

Virat Kohli. (Source -IPL/BCCI)

Virat Kohli, who has four wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL), said he will never bowl in the cash-rich league as he doesn’t want his batting confidence to take a beating. The 35-year-old hasn’t bowled in the IPL since 2016.

Kohli has taken nine wickets in international cricket with his dibbly-dobbly medium-pace bowling. He can be hard to pick, especially for someone facing him for the first time, because he bowls off the wrong foot and has a variety of slower balls up his sleeve. However, the Delhi batter clearly stated that he doesn’t want to bowl in the cash-rich league ever again.

In a match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2024, fans present at the Wankhede Stadium wanted to see Kohli roll his arm over when the home team was going great guns in pursuit of a 197-run target. The talismanic batter said that he heard the chants of ‘Kohli ko bowling do’ from the stands but he folded his hands and apologised.

“In IPL, I’ll never bowl. Fans were chanting ‘Kohli ko bowling do’ a few times, I joined my hands and said sorry. In the match where MI scored 200 in 15 overs, they were asking me to bowl. The confidence which I’ve in batting, that’ll be over too,” Kohli said while speaking to JioCinema.

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The Royal Challengers suffered defeats in seven out of their first eight matches in IPL 2024 and were staring down the barrel. However, they managed to remarkably turn things around by winning five games in a row. Other results also went their way and it has kept them in the race for the playoffs.

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On Saturday, May 18, RCB will take on defending champions Chennai Super Kings in a crucial encounter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The hosts will need to beat the Super Kings by at least 18 runs with a target of 200 runs or more if they bat first. Meanwhile, if RCB bat second, they must reach the target with 11 balls to spare to make the playoffs.