Former Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody once again triggered the strike rate concern of Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli after his half-century against the Delhi Capitals on Saturday. The RCB batter scored 55 runs off 46 balls at a poor strike of 119.57 on a wicket that was good for batting.
Since the start of IPL 2023, the Strike rate and the intent to score runs in the middle over have been a hot topic of discussion in the league, and Virat Kohli was widely criticized for his strike rate in the middle overs as he was unable to accelerate post-powerplay.
Former Australian Cricketer Tom Moody believes that Virat Kohli’s style of batting is outdated with the introduction of the impact player rule, Moody feels that RCB batter should be accelerated a bit alongside Mahipal Lomror which could have made the difference for his side against Delhi Capitals.
“It’s an interesting one. We will always have this debate because it is the Virat Kohli template. It’s the way he bats. His career strike rate is around 130. His ability to continue to churn out runs is quite extraordinary,” Tom Moody said.
“But did they get as many as they could have? If he took his foot a little off the brake and went with Lomror, and tried to target a boundary and over himself, we will never know,” he added.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have one of the finest opening pairs in the IPL 2023, as their openers are playing a vital role in building the innings for their side, but could not post big totals as their middle-order batters could not go big in the end overs.
There Is No Such Role Because We Have The Comfort Of Depth – Tom Moody
Tom Moody believes that with the introduction of new impact players, they are no need for players to build the innings with a slow strike rate, as the game moves towards the quick style of cricket as they have more big scores coming in this edition of the Indian Premier League.
“But maybe he also felt that whilst the other end was flying along, his role was to feed that other end. But in my view, particularly with the impact player, the game has moved on from that style of cricket. That’s why we are seeing so many totals go to 200+. There is no such role. We all need to be going here at 150+ without a doubt because we have the comfort of depth,” Tom Moody added.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has suffered their 5th loss in the league stage and will look to make a comeback at the business end of the tournament to make it into the playoffs for the fourth consecutive time in the IPL. The Faf du Plessis-led side will take on Mumbai Indians in their next encounter on May 9 in the iconic Wankhede Stadium.