"Why is he bothering reading the rubbish that some people write?" - Simon Doull reacts to Virat Kohli's shot at critics after RCB-GT IPL 2024 clash
Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull feels Virat Kohli is too good a player to be reading things on social media and bothering about responding to them.
Doull's reaction comes after Kohli took a shot at critics of his low strike rate and ability to play outside the powerplay after Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) nine-wicket win against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 28.
The 35-year-old scored a sparkling 70* off 44 deliveries to help RCB successfully chase down 201. However, Kohli took the post-match interview as an opportunity to respond to his critics.
"All the people who talk about strike-rates and me not playing spin well are the ones talking about this stuff (his low strike-rate). For me, it’s about winning the games for the team and there’s a reason why you’ve done it for 15 years, you’ve done this day in and day out, you’ve won games for your teams, I’m not quite sure that if you haven’t been in that situation yourself, to sit and talk about the game from the box," said Kohli.
In response to Kohli's comments, Simon Doull said on Cricbuzz:
"Why is he bothering? I mean, seriously, the bloke is such a good player. Why is he bothering reading the rubbish that some people write or why are people reading it and telling him? I don’t understand that? I just look at what he’s done. Why would you bother reading social media and try to make a point about it in interviews? If he’s reading social media, he should have better things to do."
The cricketer turned commentator added:
“Interesting that he (Kohli) goes back to these things because they won’t be asking him. Are you looking up your strike rate? Those won’t be the questions. Clearly he’s reading social media or someone is reading all the social media about him. He (Kohli) does this quite often in post-match presentations, where he has a point to make about stuff that is written about him."
To his credit, Virat Kohli has upped his strike rate in the ongoing IPL to an impressive 147.49 from his career IPL strike rate of 131.02.
The champion batter is also the leading run-scorer thus far in IPL 2024, with 500 runs at an average of 71.42 in 10 games.
RCB remain bottom-placed despite Virat Kohli's heroics
Despite Virat Kohli's sensational batting form, RCB has endured a dismal IPL 2024 campaign, winning only three out of 10 games.
The Faf du Plessis-led side are currently at the bottom of the points table even after winning their last two outings to break a six-game losing streak. With their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, RCB will have to win all their remaining matches and hope several other results will go their way.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli touched the 500-run mark in an IPL season for the seventh time in his illustrious career. The former captain will be back in action when RCB takes on GT in the return fixture in Bengaluru on Saturday, May 4.