Virat Kohli didn’t have the best of outings during the Test series against England in India. The India captain scored a total of 172 runs in four Tests at an average of 28.66.
He turned things around in the five-match T20I series by smashing 231 runs at an average of 115.50 and followed it up with a total of 129 runs in the three-match ODI series.
Virat Kohli And AB De Villiers Spoke About A Couple Of Basic Technical Things
During England’s tour of India, Virat Kohli reached out to his RCB teammate AB de Villiers, who revealed the contents of a message he sent to India’s batting star.
“I don’t want to say. It’s embarrassing. I think I mentioned four points. We spoke about couple of things away from the game and then also a couple of technical things but it was very basic,” the South African superstar said in a video posted on RCB’s official Twitter handle.
“I have been wanting to tell him for quite a while, I was watching him for a few months looking like he was quite intense — at the crease, with his whole game. So, I really wasn’t surprised when I saw the message and I knew immediately that all he needs to hear is the basic stuff.”
After India captain Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 73 runs in 49 balls in the 2nd T20I against England, he revealed he sought advice from former South Africa captain and his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate AB de Villiers.
It was a tough time for the India skipper who was struggling to get runs on the board, and after losing the first T20I in which he was dismissed for a duck, Virat Kohli sought advice from cricket’s ‘Mr. 360’.
AB De Villiers Messaged Virat Kohli To See The Ball With A Still Head Maintaining Body Language And Attitude
AB de Villiers then proceeds to take his phone out of his pocket and reveals what exactly he messaged Virat Kohli.
“Four points — see the ball, still head, allow the ball to come into your space, body language, and attitude. And then we sort of elaborated around those four points,” said De Villiers.
AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli are currently with the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in Chennai. RCB has made a dream start in IPL 2021, winning both their matches so far to sit atop the IPL points table.
They along with Punjab Kings, who have only played one match so far, are the only unbeaten team in the tournament this season. RCB next face Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.
Against SRH, RCB, who were put in to bat, made one change to their playing XI, bringing in Devdutt Padikkal in place of Rajat Patidar. The right-hander Glenn Maxwell was dismissed off the final delivery of the innings after guiding RCB to 149/8.
He scored his first fifty for RCB and was awarded, MOM. RCB produced a monumental comeback with the ball after Shahbaz Ahmed struck thrice in one over and managed to defend a total of 149 against SRH.
Mohammed Siraj built the pressure early on with the new ball removing Wriddhiman Saha but Shahbaz Ahmed who bowled the 17th over turned out to be a match-changing move as the left-arm spinner scalped 3 wickets in an over.
He dismissed Jonny Bairstow and Pandey on consecutive deliveries and then got Abdul Samad out on the final delivery, with all three batsmen attempting to clear the ropes.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 149/8 (Glenn Maxwell 59, Virat Kohli 33; Jason Holder 3/30) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 143/9 (David Warner 54, Manish Pandey 38; Shahbaz Ahmed 3/7) by 6 runs
In the 1st match, Harshal Patel took the IPL’s first five-wicket haul against Mumbai, returning 5 for 27 in four overs, ripping the heart out of Mumbai’s monster hitters with a variety of slower balls and inch-perfect yorkers to keep the defending champions to just 159 for 9. Harshal Patel bowled overs 16, 18 and 20, and was single-handedly responsible for Mumbai ending up below 160 when they looked set for more than 180.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 160 for 8 (de Villiers 48, Maxwell 39, Bumrah 2-26, Jansen 2-28) beat Mumbai Indians 159 for 9 (Lynn 49, Yadav 31, Patel 5-27) by two wickets