"Would like to see him take the game on and boss the game" - Tom Moody on expectations from Virat Kohli in IPL 2024
Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody has wished Virat Kohli would take the game on more for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2024. The season begins with RCB taking on arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the tournament's curtain-raiser in Chennai on Friday, March 22.
Kohli enjoyed a tremendous IPL 2023 season despite RCB missing out on playoff qualification, scoring 639 runs at an average of over 53 and a striker rate of almost 140 in 14 games.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo ahead of IPL 2024, Moody wanted Kohli to exhibit a more attacking brand, similar to his dream 2016 season.
"Would like to see him take the game on and boss the game because he has got the game, he has got more than the game as one of the greats. When he does that, he looks unstoppable. I keep getting flashbacks of 2016 when he had a bumper year and you just couldn't bowl to him. No one was looking at the strike rate then because he was just controlling the game and no one could bowl to him at that point," said Moody.
"With the Impact Sub now in play and the reinforcements RCB have got with their batting, would love to see Virat go out there and boss the game. He can do it because you are not asking someone to do something they are not capable of doing. He can do it and just tear this tournament apart," he added.
Compared to his career IPL strike rate of 130.02, Kohli scored at a rate of over 152 while scoring 973 runs in 2016.
The 35-year-old remains the IPL's all-time leading scorer with 7,263 runs with an incredible seven centuries in 237 games.
"When Virat previously batted, he needed somebody with him to bat at a 150-160 strike rate" - Wasim Jaffer
Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer stated Virat Kohli usually needed a batter at the other end to play aggressively but echoed Tom Moody's sentiments on wanting the champion batter to take the game head on more.
Kohli's strike rate has been a cause of concern in a high-scoring T20 era, leading to speculations about his place in the Indian squad for the upcoming World Cup.
"When Virat previously batted, he needed somebody with him to bat at a 150-160 strike rate. Again, with the kind of form Faf is in, not having a great SA20, which puts a lot of pressure on Virat. But he (Kohli) needs to bat in an attacking manner, earlier he used to bat in situations and he wanted the other guy to take the mantle of scoring quickly. Now he needs to do that and on top of that, their (RCB) bowling attack isn't great so they needed to score 20-30 runs more to win games," said Jaffer.
Despite Kohli's remarkable numbers, RCB are yet to break through and win the elusive IPL title.
The Faf du Plessis-led outfit have a task in hand to win their season opener against CSK, having never beaten the five-time champions at Chennai since 2008.