IPL 2024: “He is trying to dominate spin this year” – Aakash Chopra lauds Virat Kohli’s knock against GT

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra showered praise on Virat Kohli after his fine knock against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday. While chasing 201 runs, Kohli scored an unbeaten knock of 70 runs off 44 balls.

The talisman scored six fours and three sixes in his fine knock and added 166 runs with Will Jacks, who scored a brilliant knock of 100 runs. Kohli has been found wanting against the spinners in the middle overs but Chopra has noted that he is trying to dominate the spin in the ongoing season.

The veteran played well against the likes of Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed as he employed the sweep shot and played a key role in the team’s win. Kohli, who has struggled to score his runs at a rapid pace against SRH, scored his runs at a strike rate of 159.09 against GT.

“We got to see Kohli’s Virat avatar. He played both spin and fast bowling very well. He is trying to dominate spin this year and also hitting lofted shots extremely well in the powerplay. If we talk about players like Virat and Rohit Sharma, these players are slightly beyond numbers,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

Chopra highlighted that Kohli played an aggressive role in his alliance with Will Jacks, who scored a run-a-ball 17 before changing gears.

“However, Virat is consistently trying to run slightly faster this time. The sixes he hit off Noor Ahmed’s bowling while kneeling, he batted extremely well. He was there and then came a storm named Will Jacks. It seemed for a long time that Virat Kohli was shielding him,” Chopra observed.

Will Jacks took Mohit Sharma to the cleaners, smashing the experienced seamer for 29 runs in the 15th over. Chopra lauded the English batter for his pyrotechnics.

“I even tweeted ‘Will Jacks to be dismissed soon’. He read it and then the way he smashed, he destroyed Mohit Sharma in one over. He was continuously bowling back-of-the-hand slower ones and Will Jacks was hitting sixes. Then he hit Rashid Khan for 29 runs in an over. It was his most expensive over to date,” he elaborated.

RCB will once again take on GT at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Saturday.