Shayan Ahmad Khan, Jarrod Kimber
In 2016, Virat Kohli was at the peak of his powers, especially in T20 cricket. In the IPL that year, Royal Challengers Bangalore had to win the last four matches of the league stage to reach the playoffs. He scored two centuries and two half-centuries, ensuring a top-two finish.
Eight years later, he has again been a key figure in RCB’s six-match winning streak. Kohli has 329 runs in six innings at an average of 65.8 and a strike rate of 162.06 in those six games. He has played several high-impact knocks – 70* off 44 vs Gujarat Titans, 42 off 27 vs Gujarat Titans, 92 off 47 vs Punjab Kings, 27 off 13 vs Delhi Capitals, and 47 off 28 vs Chennai Super Kings. His ability to combine intent and consistency has been a real game changer.
The paradigm shift in RCB’s approach with the bat started from RCB’s first game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, who made a world-record 287 for 3. The batters put up a great effort to score 262 for 7, and that started from the powerplay when Faf du Plessis and Kohli took the attack to the bowlers. RCB lost the next game against Kolkata Knight Riders by just one run while chasing 223. Kohli made 42 off 20 and 18 off 7 respectively in those two games. The intent was clear – go for it right from the start.
It is not that Kohli was not scoring runs in the first six matches. After all, he was the orange cap holder even at that time, with 319 runs at a strike rate of 141.77. In fact, there was even an increase in his intent compared to previous seasons. But in the next eight matches is where the new version of Kohli came to the fore, as 389 runs at a strike rate of 169.13 suggests.
His true average dropped a bit, but there is a big difference in the true strike rate. He is now doing significantly better than the average batter on both metrics. He has put a lesser value on his wicket, to reap the rewards of much faster scoring.
In 2023, Kohli was elite against pace, but he struck at 25.3 less against spin than the average player would have in the overs he faced. This year, he has still been exceptional against pace, but the real differentiator has been his spin game. Not only does he have a significantly better true average, he also has a much higher true strike rate. He is well above par on strike rate, while being dismissed a lot less frequently than last time.
The two most important reasons for Kohli’s success this season have been his approach in the powerplay and against spin.
In the powerplay, he has hit a lot more sixes in the latter half of the season. In the first six matches, he hit three sixes from 95 deliveries. Since then, he has 17 sixes in 117 deliveries. His balls per six ratio went from 31.67 to 6.88. And it has not come at the cost of a lower average. His balls per dismissal went up, from 47.5 to 58.5, despite the strike rate also jumping from 130.5 to 187.2.
Spin has been the best way to slow Kohli down in the T20 format. He had 128 runs at a strike rate of 130.6 against the tweakers in the first six matches, being dismissed only once. Although he has been dismissed thrice by spinners since, he has scored 161 runs at a strike rate of 146.4.
He had been cautious gainst left-arm finger spin in his first six games, scoring 28 off 33 for once out. Since then, he has hit 78 off 52, and also been out just once. He has taken on the likes of R Sai Kishore and Ravindra Jadeja.
Compared to last season, he has a much better scoring rate against spin off full and good length deliveries, which is a high percentage of the deliveries he has faced in both seasons. He has faced only 4 yorkers, 22 balls in the slot and 9 back of a length deliveries against spin in 2024. The respective numbers for the same delivery types last season are 5, 4 and 5. Hence, it is a relatively smaller sample.
When we have a look at his record this season compared to the other batters, he is once again better than average (as of the league stage) against full and good length balls. There were 113 that were pitched full, while 64 were on a good length.
These are his strike rates by 10 kmph speed intervals. He has faced 4, 54, 132, and 19 deliveries respectively in each slab. His highest scoring rate is against balls in the 81-90 kmph, but there is a drop in the 91-100 kmph range.
Kohli has hit most of his sixes against spin off fuller deliveries. But he also has four sixes from good length balls. When spinners have landed balls in the slot, he has hit fours, but most off those have come off deliveries that were pitched in the 5-7 metres range.
The fact that he has brought back the slog sweep has played a big part in his resurgence against spin.
“I brought out the slog-sweep to the spinners. Something that I just mentally put myself in that situation. I did not practice that at all. I know I can hit it because I have hit it a lot in the past. So I just felt like I needed to take a bit more risk, and for me that shot was something that I used to hit regularly, back in the day,” Kohli said after the match against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala. “That shot is now allowing me to hit off the backfoot as well because I am always looking to expose that side of the field against the spin, which for me has been a massive factor for me in the IPL.”
Even though RCB have pulled off a comeback for the ages, their job is not yet done. The big dance starts now, and the team needs its biggest stars to perform when the lights are bright, because they’ve been there and done that.
