Former India batsman Aakash Chopra has made a bold prediction for Virat Kohli ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023).
The onus will be on the likes of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and other big names of the team to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to their first-ever IPL title. IPL 2023 is scheduled to begin from March 31 while RCB will be playing their first match on April 2 when they lock horns against five-time champions Mumbai Indians.
RCB have never won the IPL title and have not made it to the final since losing the title-decider against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. In the previous three seasons, they made it to the playoffs but could not advance to the final or win the title.
Aakash Chopra’s bold prediction for Virat Kohli:
While only time will tell whether RCB go on to win their first IPL title or not this year, Aakash Chopra has predicted a productive season with the bat for Virat Kohli.
The former cricketer-turned-commentator has predicted that Virat Kohli will finish IPL 2023 as RCB’s highest run-scorer. The right-handed batsman did not perform as expected last year where he managed a modest 341 runs at an underwhelming average of 22.73 and a strike-rate of 115.98.
“Who will be the highest run-scorer for this team – Faf or Virat Kohli? I am going to go with Virat Kohli. Virat didn’t score runs last year. It cannot happen every year, so he will score runs and then the team will look slightly stronger,” Chopra said while speaking on “AakashVani” show on JioCinema.
“They have a very good captain in the form of Faf du Plessis. If we talk about the batting, Virat Kohli comes to open along with Faf du Plessis. They might not have a place for Anuj Rawat and then Rajat Patidar at No. 3, he has performed very well,” he added.
Virat Kohli has looked in good form in recent times. He recently ended his long century drought in Tests with a classy knock of 186 against Australia. With form on his side, the former RCB skipper would be keen to make the most it in IPL 2023.