Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 27 (ANI): Ahead of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) blockbuster clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the team’s batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik hailed star batter Virat Kohli and expressed faith in his spin-playing abilities, saying that he wants to “improve and keep raising the bar.”
In one of the biggest matches of the IPL season, five-time champions CSK and RCB will meet in a Southern Derby at Chepauk Stadium on Thursday. In their last match, RCB sent CSK packing out of the competition on the basis of net-run-rate and secured the playoffs spot after winning six matches on the bounce after winning just one of first eight matches. Both teams have played each other 33 times, with CSK winning 21, RCB winning just 11, and one match ending with no result. RCB has just one win at Chepauk Stadium, which dates back to the inaugural IPL back in 2008.
Virat has a fine record against CSK, having made 1,053 runs in 33 matches and 32 innings at an average of 37.60 and a strike rate of over 126, with nine fifties and the best score of 90*. His record at Chepauk, though, is underwhelming, having made 383 runs in 13 matches at an average of just 29.46 and a strike rate of over 111, with two fifties and the best score of 58.
Speaking ahead of the match on Virat, Dinesh, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, pointed to Virat’s clutch knock against South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 final after a disappointing tournament and his 218 runs in five matches in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy, both tournaments that India won and in which Virat shined in crucial matches.
“He has batted well in the recent past against spin, especially in white-ball cricket. So, I do not want to go too deep into stats. I am not very aware. But if I remember, in the [T20] World Cup finals, he got runs where it mattered. And apart from that, in the Champions Trophy, he had a good tournament second-highest run-getter [for India]. And that does not come without playing on spin,” said Dinesh.
“So, I believe right now, he is batting as well as he has ever done. And you speak to him even today, just now as I came out. He wanted to work on one more shot. At this point in time, to work on one more shot tells you the hunger that he has in his mindset. He just wants to improve and keep raising the bar. So, he is a special player. And at this point in time, the way I see it, he is batting as confidently as he has ever done in IPL,” he concluded.
The 2024 IPL saw Virat taking the game on against spinners, even in middle overs, utilising the slog sweep against them.
In 13 innings, Virat scored 292 runs in 213 balls against spin, striking at a much-improved strike rate of 137.08, at an average of 58.50, being dismissed five times. He scored 17 boundaries and 15 sixes (out of his total 38) against spin.
This was a noticeable improvement in his spin game. He struck at just over 113 with 17 fours and four sixes in IPL 2023 and fared poorly in the 2022 season, with a strike rate of 108 and five sixes against spin.
Virat carried on his new-found confidence against spin the opening clash against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Kolkata, playing smartly against Sunil Narine and red-hot Varun Chakravarthy.
Chennai Super Kings Squad
Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dube, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Khaleel Ahmed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vijay Shankar, Jamie Overton, Shaik Rasheed, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Mukesh Choudhary, Anshul Kamboj, Matheesha Pathirana, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Andre Siddarth C, Vansh Bedi
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad
Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Jacob Bethell, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara. (ANI)
