Simon Doull, a former New Zealand fast bowler and commentator, has made a remarkable admission on his criticising Virat Kohli as regards his strike-rate.
Raising the point that he has made “a thousand good things” about the previous Royal Challengers Bangalore captain but there are negative repercussions for expressing critical viewpoints.
Although Doull has long acknowledged the accomplishments and abilities of this Indian batsman, he realized that one may receive flak from die-hard supporters if he/she highlights areas of improvement such as a strike rate.
“I see an extraordinary player, a player who in my mind should be dominating even more than what he was. That’s what I mean by when I talk about (his) strike rate. I felt that he was too scared to get out because he feared who is behind him rather than (saying), ‘I’m so good.’ It’s the same thing I said about Babar and I had a conversation with him after I spoke about it in Pakistan and he said his coaches have told him the same thing. With (Kohli) this year, what I loved mostly was the intent to hit sixes,” Doull stated on Cricbuzz.
Doull postulates that his major argument has always been that Kohli should never fear getting out, which is probably one of those few negative statements concerning ex-RCB skipper coming from me.
“He is too good to worry about getting out and that was always my point. About Virat Kohli; I have praised him thousands of times but let me say something bad or something perceived to be bad and suddenly people want me dead. That’s how sad it is,” lamented Simon Doull.
“No issue ever and no personal grudge would give me any reason whatsoever for having problems with anyone. When you look at cricket games nowadays particularly with the super sub system where anything below 130-135 SR was useless,” added Simon Doull.
The tournament saw Kohli finish IPL 2024 as the highest run-scorer with 741 runs in 15 games, including one hundred and five fifties. He averaged 61.75 at a strike rate of 154.69 as an opener.
