Virat Kohli being criticised despite being leading run-scorer in IPL 2024 is incredible: Japan’s Kendel Fleming [Exclsuive]

Virat Kohli. (Source -IPL/BCCI)

Japan captain Kendel Fleming explained how teams have altered their approach to T20 cricket as the fear of failure has considerably reduced among the batters. He gave examples from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 to validate his points.

The 28-year-old Fleming was asked if there has been a shift in the approach from the batters in T20 cricket. The opening batter answered in the affirmative, mentioning how Sunrisers Hyderabad’s opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head have pulverised bowlers in IPL 2024.

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“Yeah, I do think so. I have watched a little bit of the IPL this year and it’s blown my mind. Some of the scores, the scores are just getting bigger and bigger. And there was one game that I watched and I think Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head put on about 120 in the power play or some ridiculous score. I think they’ve done that a few times. And also in the IPL with the impact player rule, I’m sure that batters just have a license to go even harder than they would have previously. So I don’t envy being a death bowler or a fast bowler at the moment, especially in the IPL,” Fleming said in an exclusive chat with CricTracker.

Virat Kohli is the leading run-getter in IPL 2024, having amassed 708 runs from 14 matches at an average of 64.36 and a strike rate of 155.60. However, the former India captain has received criticism at times for his strike rates being comparatively low in some of the matches. Fleming said that if the highest run-getter in a huge tournament like the IPL can be criticised for his strikes rates, it just shows how much the game has evolved in recent times. Fleming also opined that the role of an anchor has almost become redundant in modern-day cricket.

“But on the whole, I do think there probably is more of a shift towards all-out aggression in T20 cricket. And we saw it against Hong Kong last year. a little bit in a couple of the games where we’ve had a good start and we’ve managed to get some wickets early, but the middle order just keep going hard. They take a lot of risks, but, you know, risks tend to pay off in T20 as long as you’ve got some skill there. So I do think there is a little bit of a shift and we’ve probably gone away from that anchor role, so to speak, in the top four where someone tries to bat out the innings,” Fleming said.

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“I mean, Virat Kohli’s been unbelievable in this IPL in terms of his numbers, but I still see the criticism of his strike rate, which is incredible considering he’s the leading run-scorer in the tournament. So I do think there is a real focus on strike rates, six hitting, and we see that all the way from the IPL, which is the pinnacle of T20 in terms of franchise tournaments, all the way down to associate cricket. So, yeah, yeah, definitely,” he added.