Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik. (Source – Twitter/X)
Star batter Virat Kohli was back to his usual best in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, finishing as the season’s leading run-scorer with 741 runs. According to his Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate Dinesh Karthik, some timely criticism and chatter around his strike rate is what fired him up this year.
In the lead-up to the tournament, some experts had questioned whether Kohli’s strike rate was still up to the demanding standards of modern T20 cricket. This lit a fire under the former Indian skipper, who was determined to silence his critics. Karthik revealed that the RCB camp thrives on criticism and loves to prove people wrong.
“I can write a book on how he was this year. He started okay but thanks to people like Simon (Doull) and a few others, they just really spurred him on. And you don’t want to see that side of Virat Kohli. I think he thrives on that. He is someone who inadvertently wants to hold on to certain things to do well,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
“He loves proving people wrong, and even though he might not come out and say it, it fuels his passion and he’s like a molten lava coming out. He’s fiery and you don’t want to be anywhere close to it because you’re going to get burnt for sure. After all, he’s done this time and time again,” he added.
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He’s too good to worry about what if he gets out: Simon Doull
The veteran wicket-keeper batter went on to laud Kohli’s incredible intensity and leadership abilities, stating that it was a key factor in the success of the Bengaluru-based franchise.
“You can speak about RCB, the success, and all of that; it is not happening without that man. I’m not saying this with his batting. It’s the intimidating feeling that he gives when he’s on the field, the way he pushes fielders, if you ever had a mic in one of those timeouts, my god!” he continued.
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Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull, who had earlier criticized Kohli’s T20 strike rate admitted the superstar batter may need that motivation after an illustrious 17-year career.
“He’s too good to worry about what if he gets out. He’s too good a player, and that was always my point around him. I said a thousand great things about Virat Kohli, but I say one thing that might be slightly negative or construed to be negative, I get death threats. It’s never personal. We’ve had great conversations. I’ve interviewed him at tosses, we’ve talked after games, there’s never been an issue,” Doull told.