"Everytime Virat Kohli comes from a break, he becomes more dangerous" - Mohammad Kaif on RCB star ahead of IPL 2024
Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star batter Virat Kohli will have a prolific IPL 2024 season with the bat despite coming back from a break.
Kohli had withdrawn from India's recent Test series against England, citing personal reasons and is yet to join the Bangalore camp at the time of writing. However, Kaif recalled how Kohli smashed a hundred against Afghanistan in the 2022 Asia Cup after returning fresh from a break and how he has been in form ever since.
Here's how Mohammad Kaif explained on Star Sports why he feels Virat Kohli will be back as a dangerous batter in IPL 2024:
"I remember during the Asia Cup when he scored a century against Afghanistan; since then, he hasn’t looked back. So I think he’s going to continue this amazing form. One special thing about Virat Kohli is that every time he comes back from a break, he plays really well. Most players want to be in touch and play regularly to get in form, but Virat Kohli every time when he comes back from the break, he comes across as a more dangerous batsman.”
Kaif also claimed that Virat Kohli's form will directly have an impact on whether RCB will make it to the IPL 2024 playoffs. He also expects the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green to join the party and help Kohli in firing RCB to massive totals consistently.
Irfan Pathan on RCB's pace attack
Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan understands the worry of the RCB fans about the bowling line-up that their team has assembled for the IPL 2024 season. While the Chinnaswamy Stadium has often proven to be a graveyard for bowlers, Pathan feels the Royal Challengers can make a difference with the express pace they have in their attack with the likes of Alzarri Joseph.
On this, he stated:
“One thing I would like to say to RCB fans is that people might say that the bowling line-up is weak for the team at least what it seems, but their management has done one thing: they have bought pace in their bowling line-up. They have 3 fast bowlers who can touch one 140 km/hour speed. So there is a possibility that on a dead pitch like Chinnaswamy, this Express pace might get the job done because batting is anyway really strong.”
The Royal Challengers Bangalore begin their IPL 2024 season against defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Chepauk on March 22. It will be a tough ask for Faf du Plessis and co., but they will be motivated to defy the odds and stun MS Dhoni & his men.