Former India cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Bangar has praised Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli for adjusting his game as per the needs of his team and proving his doubters wrong. Kohli has got his IPL 2024 campaign off to a great start by scoring an unbeaten 59* (36) against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the opening game of the tournament at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Recently, Sanjay Bangar shared his thoughts on Kohli’s approach in the season opener and his chances of succeeding on the spin-friendly surface in the next game in Chennai. Bangar said that Kohli paces his innings well if his opening partner gets the team off to an explosive start and makes his game plan by looking at the surface..
“It’s going to be a challenge obviously for everybody it’s not only a challenge for Virat. When you play at Chepauk, if the wickets tends to hold up or grip a little bit, and CSK have some very good spin options. So, it all boils down to what the start is, because what Virat does is if he’s got a good partner, explosive partner at the other end then he can control the tempo of the innings really well. So, he’s the guy who sees the pitch and then makes a game plan. So, it will be dependent on the nature of the surface that is likely to be played on that particular venue on that day,” said JioHotstar expert Sanjay Bangar while replying to a query from India Today.
Furthermore, Bangar mentioned how Kohli has proved his doubters wrong time and again by attacking spinners and improving his strike rate.
“And the venue and the pitch will tell him how to counter that spin threat. He’s shown in the Champions Trophy, wherever he’s played, he’s overcome all the things. All the doubters were there saying that ok he can’t do that, he can’t attack spin or he bats at a lower strike rate. But I think what he does beautifully is that he adjusts his game to the needs of his team and to the situation in which he plays. So, that is going to be the case when he takes on the quality spinners of CSK,” he added.
