IPL 2020: It will be the most interesting feature of this season to see Virat Kohli with no crowds, says Kevin Pietersen
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has backed Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli to do well in IPL 2020 despite a poor start to the season.
Pietersen believes that Kohli feeds off the energy from the crowd and thus might be finding it difficult to cope with their absence.
Pietersen is still of the opinion that Virat Kohli is the best when it comes to batting and is hopeful that he will make a strong comeback, possibly in their next game against the defending champions Mumbai Indians.
“He is the best of the best when it comes to batting has the best showmanship of the sport. But there is no spectators and a showman needs spectators. So, at the moment, he is not very good, and he accepts that. But it will be very interesting to see if that graph does move and he gets used to playing. It will be the most interesting feature of this IPL to see Kohli with no crowds," Kevin Pietersen told Star Sports.
I am very interested to see how a guy like Virat Kohli makes a comeback: Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen stressed on the fact that Virat Kohli likes to play in front of packed stadiums and in an electric atmosphere. The 31-year-old has scored just 15 runs from RCB's first two games of IPL 2020 so far and Pietersen is keen to see how Kohli bounces back and finds form.
RCB won their first encounter against the Sunrisers Hyderabad but got thrashed in their second match against the Kings XI Punjab, losing by 97 runs. Pietersen feels that Virat Kohli will have to step up for RCB to get back to winning ways.
The IPL 2020 timetable has been updated check here.
“I think that I am going to stick with where I was at the start of the tournament. Talking about a guy like Virat Kohli, you are talking about his showmanship and where he likes to play the game. And, his ability to accept the energy of the ground,” Kevin Pietersen said.
“He hasn’t started very well at all. And he accepts that, and he even said at the press conference, accepting the responsibility of some of the stuff that he has been doing. So, he is man enough to accept his responsibility and I am still very interested to see how a guy like him makes a comeback,” he further added.
RCB will play four-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians next on Monday in Dubai.